Ecoark Holdings Inc (OTCMKTS: EARK) Is Today's Focus Stock

Ecoark Holdings, Inc. (OTCMKTS: EARK), which engages in the development of business solutions to address the waste in operations, is our new pick. Why? Because, the company is said to be preparing for Nasdaq uplisting. This would be a huge deal for any OTC stock as not many companies are able to graduate to the bigger exchange. If Ecoark can do this, a long-term exposure to the company makes a lot of sense.As we always do, take a look at the chart before we bring you this story:SourceEcoark Holdings and its New developmentsEcoark Holdings was incorporated in Nevada on November 19, 2007, and it has grown inorganically until now. The holding defines the activity of the group in the following way in its last annual report:

"Ecoark Holdings is an innovative, emerging growth company focused on the development and deployment of business solutions and products to the retail, agriculture, food service, commercial real estate and architecture, engineering and construction end markets. Ecoark Holdings has assembled a team and portfolio of proprietary, patented technologies to address the waste in operations, logistics and supply chain." Source

Ecoark Holdings Inc has two main businesses: Ecoark, Inc. (“Ecoark”) and Magnolia Solar, Inc. Additionally, the company owns three operating subsidiaries: Zest Labs, Inc., Eco3d, LLC, and Pioneer Products, LLC. The company is not small; 117 people are employed by it. You can obtain more information on its website.Something relevant to be noted is the transaction made on January 29, 2016. Magnolia Solar Corporation acquired Ecoark. The business combination was accounted for as a "reverse acquisition". Additionally, prior to the closing of the merger, the shareholders accepted, in a special shareholder meeting on March 18, 2016, the change in the name of the company from Magnolia Solar Corporation to Ecoark Holdings, Inc, a reverse stock split and other changes.The most recent news that the company reported in April 4, 2017 is that Magnolia Solar had been awarded a new U.S. patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The new patent was issued on March 7, 2017 with the number 9,590,133, which relates to the development of "Thin Film Solar Cells and Methods of constructing the same." According to the same communication, the company owns right now a total of seven U.S. Patents and has 16 additional patents still pending.Troy Richards, Chief Administrative Officer, of Ecoark Holdings commented the following in the press release that was distributed:

"We are pleased that our subsidiary, Magnolia Solar has been awarded a second patent this year. These patents ensure the protection of our technology in the field of flexible photovoltaics and nanostructured Antireflection Coating technologies," Source

In another press release that was made public on March 29, 2017, Ecoark Holdings disclosed several organizational changes to prepare, as we said before, its application for uplisting on the Nasdaq Capital Market. Firstly, Jay Puchir will become the CEO of the company, while Randy May will remain Chairman of the Board. Additionally, Charles Rateliff, former Walmart Treasurer, will be the CFO and Treasurer of Ecoark HoldingsThe new CEO, Jay Puchir, said the following about the new CFO:

"The fact that Charles is coming out of retirement to become CFO demonstrates his confidence in the company and the huge market opportunity in front of us. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to lead this highly dynamic organization with disruptive technologies through one of the most exciting processes in business." Source

The company also communicated that the Board of Directors had voted to increase the number of directors and it will look for two additional independent Directors. This is fantastic news as the Board of Directors will be able to decide more independently from the founders.Nasdaq ListingWe encourage you to study the listing requirements for the Nasdaq, as once the company obtains them and the listing is approved, the share price may rise. In addition, we recommend you to read the research literature about what happens when stocks are uplisting. This is an example, wherein you will be able to find the following abstract:

"Prior empirical studies provide evidence that stock price reactions to listing are more favorable for stocks that have higher prospects for listing gains. These studies focus on the listing gains of liquidity and informational value. Our study examines another dimension of listing gain, namely, improved pricing efficiency. We hypothesize that low efficiency stocks in the pre-listing period would earn higher abnormal returns than high efficiency stocks. Contrary to the predictable hypothesis, our empirical findings indicate that high efficiency stocks show favorable reactions to listing, while low efficiency stocks show no reactions." Source

ConclusionThe new developments of Ecoark Holdings and the fact that the company is trying to uplist to Nasdaq is very positive news. We believe that the market has not looked close enough at EARK and that we believe an uplisting is a real possibility for this company. If EARK does get an uplisting, it's a whole new ball game as institutions can purchase shares and EARK can more readily expand its shareholder base. This play is all about the liquidity, so you need to be informed about the new events and press releases issued. Try checking the company's website from time to time or subscribe to our newsletter.We will be updating our subscribers as soon as we know more. For the latest updates on EARK, sign up below!Disclosure: We have no position in EARK and have not been compensated for this article.