After an already volatile week that saw the stock swing double-digit percentages in both directions, shares of SkyPeople Fruit Juice (NASDAQ:SPU) were once again soaring—this time by over 35%--on Wednesday morning. While volume is high and investors are paying close attention to this nano-cap stock, do we really know why shares are moving or what this company does?
SkyPeople is a Chinese producer of fruit juice, juice concentrates, fresh fruit, and fruit byproducts. The company sells its juice under the brand “Hedetang,” with the majority of sales coming from its domestic business. Nevertheless, SkyPeople has exported juice to Canada, New Zealand, Mongolia, and Dubai.
According to the company’s website, SkyPeople juices are available at over 20,000 retail points via about 100 distributors in more than 20 provinces throughout China. The company specializes in using the kiwifruit and owns the largest kiwifruit plantation in China.
The reason for the insane trading activity surrounding SkyPeople is a recently-released report from GeoInvesting. The research firm came across SkyPeople after discovering that it reached an agreement with the state-backed Shaanxi New Silk Road Kiwifruit Group to sell 51% of one of its subsidiaries.
With the understanding that nano-cap Chinese companies have been marred by numerous cases of fraud over the past several years, GeoInvesting dispatched an on-the-ground due diligence team to uncover the facts regarding this transaction.
SkyPeople’s stock took a hit on Tuesday after various media entities reported that GeoInvesting’s due diligence report contained negative findings. However, the firm corrected those reports via Twitter on Wednesday morning:
Media assumptions that our DD on $SPU was negative were incorrect. See our full report here https://t.co/jRA5hu09KI
— GeoTeam (@GeoInvesting) August 31, 2016
The truth is that the transaction does value SkyPeople’s subsidiary at $100 million, or $25 per share of SPU. With the company’s market cap sitting at just $40 million, the transaction—and GeoInvesting’s due diligence—could trigger a bullish run for the stock.
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