I'm a big fan of SeekingAlpha. I think it provides readers with a great source of investment thought from some of the top minds in the business in a great format -- at no cost.

That's why I was greatly disappointed to see that the site is providing a venue for Beacon Equity Research, a stock promoter that issues "analyst reports" in exchange for cash and/or stock from the company or third parties.

A piece called Solar stocks stay strong despite new energy bill mentions little-known microcaps SES Solar (OTC BB: SESI), Solar Power (OTC BB: SOPW), and BioSolar (OTC BB: BSRC) (which our own Kevin Kelly has warned about here). These stocks were introduced with this wonderfully eloquent lead: "A number of small cap companies are poised to benefit from latest industry developments".

Following the "article", we get a disclosure that is very familiar to those of us who follow penny stock promotions:

In a recent post on his personal blog, trader Timothy Sykes told investors to "respect the hype" in six particular penny stocks. This perspective runs in-line with Tim's philosophy that investing in penny stocks is a probability game technical analysis is the best way to play. Although I'm sure money can be made by playing the greater fool theory, after looking at some of Tim's picks, I have concluded that the risks surrounding one of them -- BioSolar (OTC BB: BSRC) -- are enormous.

BioSolar is currently being "pumped" by Beacon Research according to Sykes, and we should all "respect the pump," he argues. While I understand short-term traders try to profit from quick share price moves in these sort of companies, this situation seems way too risky for the average trader or investor.

My main concerns: 1) Beacon Equity's report makes several outlandish assumptions, 2) the company's CEO appears to have ties to other penny stocks (he did not deny those claims via my recent email exchange with him), and 3) I'm highly skeptical of BioSolar's ability to create new technologies for a variety of reasons.

The purpose of this piece is to raise important issues any potential investor should see before investing in BioSolar. I have no position (long or short) in this company, I am not accusing BioSolar or its executives of perpetrating a fraud, and I am not personally aware of any short sellers involved in this stock.