When we last covered Emisphere Technologies, Inc. (OTC:EMIS) three weeks ago, it had not only cracked the $1 psychological barrier, but also headed straight toward the $1.5 mark. The latter was hit right the next day, i.e Sep. 13, culminating in a quite impressive chart run till the end of the month.
Last Friday, EMIS closed the final September session, consolidating the value of $1.95 which it had gained the previous day and maintaining steady volume. More than 253 thousand shares changed hands, marking a fifth consecutive session in which EMIS has shifted 200,000+ shares.
EMIS’s phenomenal chart run can hardly be explained in any particular way since the company has presented no news for more than 8 weeks now. In addition, third parties have shown no interest in this stock, because, apart from a non-paid momentum alert on Sep. 28, they have not invested a single penny to pump the market value of EMIS shares.
As it is, the newest stuff about EMIS boils down to a couple of SEC filings. As it seems, four company directors individually submitted a Form 4 to reflect some changes in the beneficial ownership of securities. According to the papers, each director had converted a total of 40 thousand shares of common stock into 40 thousand non-qualified stock options (NSOs). The transaction was said to have occurred on Sep. 19. In accordance with the terms of the transaction, each director could exercise their options in three equal installments – on Sep. 19, 2012, Sep. 19, 2013 and Sep. 19, 2013, respectively, at an exercise price of $1.53 per option.
Even though the exercise price of the NSOs mentioned above is currently below market value, it still serves as a guarantee that beneficial owners will have the legal right to exercise their options no matter how the market value of EMIS shares will change over the next three-year-period. Yet, for those of you who would not expect any major fluctuations, let me remind you that just a year ago EMIS shares were traded between $3.50 and $4 per share. That is why the risk of any further price depreciation does not seem unrealistic.
