What happened
Shares of lead acid battery recycler Aqua Metals (AQMS 5.93%) popped nearly 15% in early trading on the Nasdaq Monday before subsiding to about a 5.3% gain by 1:30 p.m. Even with this smaller gain, however, Aqua Metals stock is up more than 17% over its past two trading days.
And Nasdaq Stock Market is to thank for it.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
In the middle of the trading day Friday, you see, Aqua Metals announced that it has received notification from Nasdaq regulation staff that it is once again in full compliance with Nasdaq's rules for keeping its listing on the stock exchange.
For some time, this had been in doubt because Aqua Metals stock had traded below $1 in share price for the better part of 2020 -- even before the coronavirus pandemic threw the economy into a recession. On Jan. 23, 2020, the company received a notice from Nasdaq informing it that, unless it achieved a $1-plus stock price and retained it "for a minimum of 10 consecutive business days," its shares might be delisted.
Now what
Buoyed by investors' hopes that the company will benefit from the popularity of rechargeable batteries, however, Aqua Metals stock passed the $1 threshold in November of last year. A new recycling partnership with BASF, announced in January, and plans to expand into lithium ion battery recycling, announced in February, have kept Aqua Metals' stock on the upswing in 2021 -- indeed, it passed $6 a share last month.
Granted, Aqua Metals still needs to demonstrate to investors that it can earn a profit on these new ventures. For the time being, though, it appears that the immediate danger of delisting has passed.
