BALA CYNWYD, Pa., Nov. 6, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP announced today that it recently filed lawsuits on behalf of shareholders of Internet Security Systems, Inc., Loudcloud, Inc., DQE, Inc. and Intel Corp. for violations of the federal securities laws.
If you purchased the securities of any of the companies listed below during the respective class periods, you may be a member of the class and have until the date specified to move the court to become the lead plaintiff. For more information on a particular lawsuit and to view the complaint, you may visit our Website at www.sbclasslaw.com. To learn more about your rights and interests in these cases and your ability to potentially recoup your losses, please contact Schiffrin & Barroway directly at (888) 299-7706 (toll free) or (610) 822-2221, fax number (610) 822-0002 or by e-mail at info@sbclasslaw.com.
INTERNET SECURITY SYSTEMS, INC. (Nasdaq:ISSX) (Class Period: 04/01/01 - 07/02/01). The complaint charges ISSX and certain of its officers and directors with issuing false and misleading statements concerning its business and financial condition. Specifically, the complaint alleges that on April 18, 2001, ISSX reported its 23rd consecutive quarter of growth. For the first quarter of 2001, it claimed revenues in excess of $61 million and net income of $6.5 million or $0.15 per share. ISSX claimed that the Company's "financial performance continued to show strength and our solid execution and focus on expense control enabled us to meet our profit guidance provided at the beginning of the quarter." ISSX claimed on April 18, 2001 that its guidance for the second quarter ending June 30, 2001 was to produce revenues between $64 and $67 million and earnings in the range of $0.15 per diluted share, even though defendants knew they could not achieve these numbers. ISSX claimed in its April 18, 2001 press release that "the public can continue to rely on the expectations published in its earnings release and Website as being its current expectations on matters covered, unless ISSX publishes a notice stating otherwise." Defendants, who were in control of ISSX during the class period, knew that their business was slowing down, because they received financial reports on a frequent basis, and knew that they had too many employees in view of the slowdown.
On July 2, 2001, after the quarter had ended, ISSX issued a press release in which it stated that ISSX's management expected revenues in the range of $50-52 million, not $64-67 million, and a loss per diluted share between $0.00 to $0.02, rather than earnings of $0.15 to $0.16. Just after the July 18, 2001 press conference in which ISSX released its actual numbers, and admitted that it had over hired and over indulged on fringe benefits, travel and entertainment, ISSX laid off 12% of its work force, confirming what its executives had known or recklessly disregarded throughout the Class Period, that it had too many employees and greater expenses than it could afford, given its level of sales. Class members who had bought ISSX shares during the Class Period (when ISSX told them they could rely on its guidance) found out on the morning of July 3, 2001 that ISSX had tumbled more than 40 percent. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. The lead plaintiff motion must be filed no later than November 28, 2001.
LOUDCLOUD, INC. (Nasdaq:LDCL) (Class Period: all purchasers of the common stock pursuant to the March 8, 2001 Prospectus) The complaint charges Loudcloud and certain of its officers and directors with issuing false and misleading statements concerning its business and financial condition. Specifically, the complaint alleges that the Prospectus used by defendants to sell $150 million worth of Loudcloud stock was false and misleading because, among other things, it failed to disclose: (a) Loudcloud's plan to substantially reduce its work force and to restructure immediately following the Offering; (b) that the Offering was not raising funds sufficient to enable the Company to reach profitability and accomplish the planned expansion described in the Prospectus; (c) that a major contract to which one of the underwriters was a party was being terminated; and (d) that in order to enable the Offering to go forward, sales of shares were being made to insiders and the selling price of the Offering was artificially maintained by the undisclosed sale of part of the Offering to insiders. As the truth about Loudcloud and its operations reached the market, the price of Loudcloud shares fell to less than $2 per share, inflicting over $100 million in damages upon plaintiff and the Class. The complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The lead plaintiff motion must be filed no later than November 30, 2001.
DQE, INC. (NYSE:DQE) (Class Period: 12/06/00 - 04/30/01). The complaint charges DQE and certain of its officers and directors with issuing false and misleading statements concerning its business and financial condition. Specifically, the complaint alleges DQE issued positive statements concerning the significant and positive impact that DQE Enterprises, Inc. ("DQE Enterprises"), the Company's investment subsidiary, was having, and would continue to have, on DQE's financial results.
During this time, the market for initial public offerings had dramatically slowed down. Accordingly, the ability of the companies in DQE Enterprises' investment portfolio to go public was substantially impaired. Defendants, however, issued a stream of positive statements concerning the Company's operations and prospects, but failed to disclose the impaired nature of DQE Enterprises' investments and that the Company would not realize the investment gains that defendants had caused the market to expect. As a result, defendants' estimates, projections and opinions as to the Company's operations, products, earnings and income were knowingly lacking in a reasonable basis at all relevant times. This information finally became publicly known on April 30, 2001, when DQE reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2001 and revised its earnings outlook for the full year, based in part, on the weakened outlook for DQE Enterprises. In response to this negative announcement, when trading resumed on May 1, 2001, the price of DQE common stock dropped from $30.43 per share to $23.75 per share on extremely heavy trading volume. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The lead plaintiff motion must be filed no later than December 5, 2001.
INTEL CORP. (Nasdaq:INTC) (Class Period: 07/19/00 - 09/29/00) The complaint charges Intel and certain of its officers and directors with issuing false and misleading statements concerning its business and financial condition. Specifically, the complaint alleges that as a result of Intel's extraordinarily bullish statements and assurances during 7/00-8/00, on 8/28/00, Intel's stock hit its all-time high of $75-13/16. But the positive statements about the strong demand for Intel's products, Intel's improved manufacturing processes and efficiencies, the successful development and introduction of its Pentium III microprocessor, the successful development of the Pentium IV, Itanium and Timna chips and the outlook for Intel's 3rdQ 00 results, issued from 7/18-19/00 through the Intel Developer Forum, were false.
On 9/29/00, Intel admitted it was canceling its Timna chip (due to technical development problems and a lack of market demand) and told customers it was delaying shipment of its Pentium IV and Itanium chips due to design and development problems. Intel's stock dropped, falling to as low as $35-3/8. Thus, in just over five weeks, Intel's stock dropped from its all-time high of $75-13/16 on 8/28, to its lowest price in years, $35-3/8, a market cap loss of $271 billion, wiping out 50% of Intel's stock value. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The lead plaintiff motion must be filed no later than December 8, 2001.
Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP has prosecuted shareholder class actions for over fourteen years and has recovered more than $1 billion for investors. If you are a shareholder in any of the companies listed above and would like to be a lead plaintiff in one of these securities class actions, please contact Schiffrin & Barroway at (888) 299-7706.
More information on these and other class actions can be found at www.primezone.com/ca.