PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Sitoa Global Inc. (OTCQB: STOA) (PINKSHEETS: STOA) (the "Company"), an e-commerce facilitator, announced today that Merriman Capital, Inc. has initiated research coverage of the Company with a 'Buy' rating.
Joel Achramowicz, Managing Director of Equity Research, initiated his research report with a buy rating and a $0.40 target price.
Noted in the Merriman research report are the following quoted highlights:
"Investment Conclusion
Sitoa Global Inc. (or,"SGI") has structured an e-commerce cloud platform for supporting niche vendors on the Web. The company has struggled before, but is now enjoying ramping revenues that could lead to profitability in 2-3 quarters. Therefore, we're initiating coverage of this equity for aggressive accounts with a BUY rating and a 40-cent target price. Our price target is obtained by applying a 2-times multiple of our projected sales for FY2013 of $8.4 million."
"Investment Summary
- SGI currently provides a powerful cloud-based e-commerce platform for vendors who wish to have a leveraged sales and distribution model on the web while benefiting from other merchandisers with related offerings. We call these collections of related vendors e-commerce ecosystems.
- Generally these varied niche ecosystems have sales franchises with long-tail opportunities, but often with significantly lower sales volumes.
- Five hosted thematic ecosystems are currently supported by the company; and the portfolio is expected to grow rapidly in the quarters ahead.
- SGI has a strong R&D development and systems group in Nanjing, China with strong connections to the community. Currently, the company has 10 developmental personnel in its facility there.
- New opportunities are arising with multiple Chinese firms looking to find a strong merchandising position on the Web, and SGI can help them get there.
- Acquisitions are expected to bolster the company's position in the months ahead as the company looks to grow inorganically in the fragmented online merchandising community.
- The outlook for e-commerce remains very exciting--particularly in Asia--as people worldwide look to the Web for productive ways to shop, do business, and recreate.
- Growth opportunities are also particularly strong in the explosive mobile shopping arena, and SGI is planning to develop effective applications to tap this huge and growing market.
- The global market for e-commerce and online shopping is now more than $2 trillion, according to MasterCard Worldwide. Asia in particular is fanatical about shopping on the Web, and this augers well for the company's position there."
"Though risky and only for aggressive investors with high RISK thresholds, Sitoa Global may be an interesting play. Sales have recently been ramping and we expect the growth to continue on a secular basis. As such, we're initiating coverage today with a BUY rating."
Please note that any opinions, estimates or forecasts regarding Sitoa Global's performance made by analysts covering the Company are theirs alone and do not represent opinions, forecasts or predictions of Sitoa Global or its management. The Company does not, by its reference above, imply its endorsement of or concurrence with such information, conclusions or recommendations.
About Merriman Capital, Inc.
Merriman Capital, Inc. is an investment banking firm providing equity and options execution services, market making, and differentiated research for high growth companies. The firm also provides capital raising, advisory and M&A services. Merriman Capital, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Merriman Holdings, Inc. (MERR) and is the leading investment banking firm for OTCQX companies. For more information, please go tohttp://www.merrimanco.com/.
Merriman Capital, Inc. is a registered broker-dealer and member of The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)http://www.finra.org/and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC)http://www.sipc.org/contact.cfm.
About Sitoa Global Inc.
Sitoa Global provides an easy-to-use and comprehensive platform, the "Focused Social Marketplace" that enables online retailers to deploy a social marketplace e-commerce site. Sitoa's platform allows building marketplaces for online sellers with focused social customer networks to expand their sales channels without the risks of focus dilution, and increased capital and operating costs. Sitoa shares in revenues generated by the site in addition to charging integration and hosting fees. Additional information about Sitoa may be found on its website, http://www.sitoaglobal.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
This release contains certain "forward-looking statements" relating to the business of the Company. All statements, other than statements of historical fact included herein are "forward-looking statements" including statements regarding: the continued growth of the e-commerce segment and the ability of the Company to continue its expansion into that segment; the ability of the Company to attract customers and partners and generate revenues; the ability of the Company to successfully execute its business plan; the business strategy, plans, and objectives of the Company; and any other statements of non-historical information. These forward-looking statements are often identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "believes," "expects" or similar expressions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, they do involve assumptions, risks, and uncertainties, and these expectations may prove to be incorrect. Investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this news release. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors, including those discussed in the Company's periodic reports that are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available on its website (http://www.sec.gov). All forward-looking statements attributable to the Company or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these factors. Other than as required under the securities laws, the Company does not assume any duty to update these forward-looking statements.
Contact:
Investor Relations
info@sitoaglobal.com
SOURCE Sitoa Global Inc.
