NEW YORK, Oct. 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C., a nationally recognized shareholder rights law firm, reminds investors that class actions have been commenced on behalf of stockholders of Yalla Group Limited (NYSE: YALA), Sesen Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ: SESN), HyreCar Inc. (NASDAQ: HYRE), and loanDepot, Inc. (NYSE: LDI). Stockholders have until the deadlines below to petition the court to serve as lead plaintiff. Additional information about each case can be found at the link provided.
Yalla Group Limited (NYSE: YALA)
Class Period: September 30, 2020 to August 9, 2021
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: October 12, 2021
On May 19, 2021, Swan Street Research (“Swan Street”) published a report (the “Swan Street Report”) addressing Yalla, entitled “Is Yalla Group a Multi $B Fraud? The ‘Clubhouse of the Middle East’ UAE Tech Unicorn that Never Was.” The Swan Street Report alleged, among other things, that the Company has been inflating its financial metrics, including its user data and its revenue, and characterized Yalla’s financial statements as “not credible.” On this news, the price of Yalla shares fell $1.31 per share, or 7.15%, to close at $17.01 per share on May 19, 2021.
The next day, May 20, 2021, analyst The Bear Cave issued a report entitled, "Problems at Yalla Group," and Gotham City Research also tweeted that it was shorting Yalla shares. On this news, the price of Yalla shares fell an additional 6% on May 20 to close at $15.96.
Then, on August 9, 2021, after the markets closed, Yalla issued a press release entitled, “Yalla Group Limited Announces Unaudited Second Quarter 2021 Financial Results,” announcing its financial results for the second quarter of 2021 (“2Q21 Results”). The 2Q21 Results disclosed that Yalla had quarterly revenue of $66.62 million, which did not meet analysts’ expectations.
On this news, the price of Yalla shares fell nearly 18.9% on August 10, 2021, closing at $10.99, down from its previous close price of $13.55.
The lawsuit alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Yalla and its CEO made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business and financial metrics. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements regarding, and/or failed to disclose that the Company overstated its user metrics and revenue and, as a result, the Company’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
For more information on the Yalla class action go to: https://bespc.com/cases/YALA
Sesen Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ: SESN)
Class Period: December 21, 2020 to August 17, 2021
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: October 18, 2021
On December 21, 2020, the Company announced that it had submitted its Biologics License Application (“BLA”) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) for Vicineum for the treatment of BCG-unresponsive NMIBC.
On August 13, 2021, Sesen Bio announced that the FDA declined to approve its BLA for Vicineum in its current form. The FDA provided certain “recommendations specific to additional clinical/statistical data and analyses in addition to Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (CMC) issues pertaining to a recent pre-approval inspection and product quality.”
On this news, the Company’s share price fell $2.80, or 57%, to close at $2.11 per share on August 13, 2021, on unusually heavy trading volume.
Then, on August 16, 2021, Sesen Bio further revealed that “it appears that [the Company] will need to do a clinical trial to provide the additional efficacy and safety data necessary for the FDA to assess the benefit-risk profile, which is the basis for approval.” As a result, the Company expected that it could not resubmit its BLA until 2023.
On this news, the Company’s share price fell $0.89, or 42%, to close at $1.22 per share on August 16, 2021, on unusually heavy trading volume.
Then, on August 18, 2021, before the market opened, the health and medicine news site STAT published an article entitled “Sesen Bio trial of cancer drug marked by misconduct and worrisome side effects, documents show." Citing “hundreds of pages of internal documents” and “three people familiar with the matter,” the article detailed that the clinical trial for Vicineum was “marked by thousands of violations of study rules, damning investigator conduct, and worrying signs of toxicity the company did not publicly disclose.”
On this news, the Company’s share price fell $0.20, or 13%, to close at $1.31 per share on August 18, 2021, on unusually heavy trading volume.
The complaint filed in this class action alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, Defendants failed to disclose to investors: (1) that Sesen Bio’s clinical trial for Vicineum had more than 2,000 violations of trial protocol, including 215 classified as “major”; (2) that three of Sesen Bio’s clinical investigators were found guilty of "serious noncompliance,” including “back-dating data”; (3) that Sesen Bio had submitted the tainted data in connection with the BLA for Vicineum; (4) that Sesen Bio’s clinical trials showed that Vicineum leaked out into the body, leading to side effects including liver failure and liver toxicity, and increasing the risks for fatal, drug-induced liver injury; (5) that, as a result of the foregoing, the Company’s BLA for Vicineum was not likely to be approved; (6) that, as a result of the foregoing, there was a reasonable likelihood that Sesen Bio would be required to conduct additional trials to support the efficacy and safety of Vicineum; and (7) that, as a result of the foregoing, Defendants’ positive statements about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.
For more information on the Sesen Bio class action go to: https://bespc.com/cases/SESN
HyreCar Inc. (NASDAQ: HYRE)
Class Period: May 14, 2021 to August 10, 2021
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: October 26, 2021
On August 10, 2021, HyreCar announced deeply disappointing results for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2021 (“Q2 2021”), including net losses of $9.3 million compared to losses of $3.8 million in the same period the prior year. Furthermore, HyreCar’s adjusted EBITDA loss for Q2 2021 was $7.1 million (four times higher than the $1.7 million adjusted EBITDA loss experienced in the second quarter of 2020) and its gross profit for Q2 2021 was just $0.8 million (less than one third HyreCar’s gross profit in the second quarter of 2020), with a gross profit margin of just 24%. Contemporaneously with the release, HyreCar disclosed that HyreCar had incurred skyrocketing costs of revenue during the quarter primarily as a result of significantly higher insurance claims incidence, including claims before March 31, 2021 “in excess of the reserves.” During HyreCar’s earnings call, executives revealed that HyreCar had been forced to revamp its claims processes and procedures and improve its risk price adjustments for policies issued by HyreCar. And when asked whether HyreCar was actually on track to achieve 45% to 50% gross margins in the near term as previously represented, HyreCar’s CFO essentially withdrew this goal, calling it a “shoot for the sky” aim and stating that “shooting for margin upwards of 40%” was more realistic.
On this news, HyreCar’s stock price fell $9.27 per share, nearly 50%, closing at $9.85 per share on August 11, 2021.
The complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, defendants made false and misleading statements and failed to disclose that: (i) HyreCar had materially understated its insurance reserves; (ii) HyreCar had systematically failed to pay valid insurance claims incurred prior to the Class Period; (iii) HyreCar had incurred significant expenses transitioning to its new third-party insurance claims administrator and processing claims incurred from prior periods; (iv) HyreCar had failed to appropriately price risk in its insurance products and was experiencing elevated claims incidence as a result; (v) HyreCar had been forced to dramatically reform its claims underwriting, policies, and procedures in response to unacceptably high claims severity and customer complaints; and (vi) as a result, HyreCar's operations and prospects were misrepresented because HyreCar was not on track to meet the financial estimates provided to investors during the Class Period, and such estimates lacked a reasonable basis in fact, including HyreCar’s purported gross margin, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (“EBITDA”), and net loss trajectories.
For more information on the HyreCar class action go to: https://bespc.com/cases/HYRE
loanDepot (NYSE: LDI)
Class Period: February 11, 2021 IPO
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: November 8, 2021
In February 2021, loanDepot completed its initial public offering (“IPO”), selling 3.85 million shares of Class A common stock at $14.00 per share.
By August 17, 2021, loanDepot's stock had declined to $8.07 per share, a more than 42% decline from the IPO price after the Company disclosed disappointing second quarter 2021 financial results and provided significantly lower guidance for its business.
According to the complaint, loanDepot violated the Securities Act of 1933 because the Registration Statement failed to disclose that: (1) the Company’s loan originations had already declined substantially at the time of the IPO due to industry over-capacity and increased competition; (2) that the Company’s gain-on-sale margins had already declined substantially at the time of the IPO; (3) that, as a result, the Company’s revenue and growth would be negatively impacted; (4) that the Company had already been forced to embark on a significant expense reduction plan due to the significantly lower growth and refinance originations that the Company was experiencing; and (5) that, as a result of the foregoing, Defendants’ positive statements about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.
For more information on the loanDepot class action go to: https://bespc.com/cases/LDI
About Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C.:
Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C. is a nationally recognized law firm with offices in New York, California, and South Carolina. The firm represents individual and institutional investors in commercial, securities, derivative, and other complex litigation in state and federal courts across the country. For more information about the firm, please visit www.bespc.com. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
Contact Information:
Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C.
Brandon Walker, Esq.
Melissa Fortunato, Esq.
Marion Passmore, Esq.
(212) 355-4648
investigations@bespc.com
www.bespc.com
