NEW YORK, March 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C., a nationally recognized shareholder rights law firm, reminds investors that class action lawsuits have been commenced on behalf of stockholders of Qudian, Inc. (NYSE: QD), Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN), Opera Limited (NASDAQ: OPRA), and Beyond Meat, Inc. (NASDAQ: BYND). 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.
Qudian, Inc. (NYSE: QD)
Class Period: December 13, 2018 to January 15, 2020
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: March 23, 2020
On January 16, 2020, Qudian issued a press release announcing “the Company withdraws its fiscal 2019 guidance and will not issue guidance in the near term due to uncertainty related to the recent regulatory and operating environment.” The press release further stated that “China’s online consumer finance industry was affected by several regulatory developments in the fourth quarter of 2019, including further restrictions on loan collection practices, more stringent user data privacy rules and the requirements for P2P lending platforms to orderly exit their P2P businesses,” which had “reduced the availability of funding for consumer credit and driven up delinquency rates across the industry, including the Company’s loan portfolio.”
On this news, Qudian’s ADS price fell $0.84 per share, or 19.13%, to close at $3.55 per share on January 16, 2020.
The Complaint, filed on January 23, 2020, alleges that throughout the Class Period defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) regulatory developments in China threatened to negatively impact Qudian’s fiscal full year 2019 (“FY19”) financial results; (ii) Qudian’s business was unprepared to mitigate the risks associated with these regulatory changes; (iii) as a result, Qudian’s loan portfolio was plagued by growing delinquency rates; (iv) all of the foregoing made Qudian’s repeated assertions concerning its FY19 financial guidance unrealistic; and (v) as a result, the Company’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
For more information on the Qudian class action go to: https://bespc.com/qd
Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN)
Class Period: March 19, 2018 to September 26, 2018
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: March 23, 2020
The complaint, filed on January 23, 2020, alleges that defendants misled investors regarding a drug called imetelstat, which was intended to treat certain cancers that occur in bone marrow. Specifically, the lawsuit claims that defendants misled investors about the results of a clinical drug study of imetelstat called IMbark. That study was designed to ascertain whether imetelstat helped patients with a cancer called myelofibrosis.
On September 27, 2018, the company issued a press release stating that patients in the IMbark study had shown only 10% spleen response rate and 32% symptom response rate. The company also announced that Janssen had terminated its partnership with the Geron for the development of imetelstat.
On this news, the price of Geron's stock dropped from $6.23 to $2.31 on September 27, 2018, a decrease of over 62%.
For more information on the Geron class action go to: https://bespc.com/gern
Opera Limited (NASDAQ: OPRA)
Class Period: Securities purchased pursuant and/or traceable to the Company’s initial public offering commenced on or about July 27, 2018 (the “IPO” or “Offering”) and/or between July 27, 2018 and January 15, 2020 (the “Class Period”).
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: March 23, 2020
On January 16, 2020, Hindenburg Research (“Hindenburg”) published a report stating that Hindenburg had “a 12-month price target of $2.60 on Opera, representing a 70% downside.” Among other issues, Hindenburg reported that Opera’s “browser market share is declining rapidly, down ~30% since its IPO”; that Opera was involved in “predatory short-term loans in Africa and India, deploying deceptive ‘bait and switch’ tactics to lure in borrowers and charging egregious interest rates ranging from ~365-876%”; that Opera’s lending business applications, many of which are offered on Google’s Play Store—particularly, OKash, OPesa, CashBean, and Opay—were “in black and white violation of numerous Google rules” aimed at “curtail[ing] predatory lending”; and that consequently, Opera’s entire lending business was “at risk of disappearing or being severely curtailed when Google notices” Opera’s alleged violation of its rules.
Following this news, Opera’s ADS price fell $1.69 per share, or 18.74%, to close at $7.33 per share on January 16, 2020.
The Complaint, filed on January 24, 2020, alleges that the offering documents were negligently prepared and, as a result, contained untrue statements of material fact or omitted to state other facts necessary to make the statements made not misleading and were not prepared in accordance with the rules and regulations governing their preparation. Additionally, throughout the Class Period, defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, the offering documents and defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Opera’s sustainable growth and market opportunity for its browser applications was significantly overstated; (ii) defendants’ funded, owned, or otherwise controlled loan services applications and/or businesses relied on predatory lending practices; (iii) all the foregoing, once revealed, were reasonably likely to have a material negative impact on Opera’s financial prospects, especially with respect to its lending applications’ continued availability on the Google Play Store; and (iv) as a result, the offering documents and defendants’ statements were materially false and/or misleading and failed to state information required to be stated therein.
For more information on the Opera class action go to: https://bespc.com/opra
Beyond Meat, Inc. (NASDAQ: BYND)
Class Period: May 2, 2019 to January 27, 2020
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: March 30, 2020
On January 27, 2020, Don Lee Farms issued a press release entitled “Judge Rules Don Lee Farms Likely to Obtain a Judgment. Beyond Meat’s CFO and Others Named Individually for Fraud.” The press release stated, in part, that “[a] judge has ruled Don Lee Farms proved the probable validity of its claim that Beyond Meat breached its manufacturing agreement with Don Lee Farms” and that “[i]n a separate motion before a different Judge, the Court granted Don Lee Farms’ request to name Beyond Meat Chief Financial Officer Mark Nelson, Senior Quality Assurance Manager Jessica Quetsch and Director of Operations Anthony Miller in its fraud claims which allege they intentionally doctored and omitted material information from a food safety consultant’s report, and then delivered that doctored report to Don Lee Farms and affirmatively represented that it was the complete opinion of the consultant.”
On this news, Beyond Meat’s stock price fell $4.63, or 3.71%, to close at $120.12 on January 28, 2020.
The Complaint, filed on January 30, 2020, alleges that throughout the Class Period, defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Beyond Meat’s termination of its supply agreement with Don Lee constituted a breach of that agreement, thus exposing the Company to foreseeable legal liability and reputational harm; (ii) Beyond Meat and certain of its employees had doctored and omitted material information from a food safety consultants report, which the Company represented as accurate to Don Lee; and (iii) as a result, the Company’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
For more information on the Beyond Meat class action go to: https://bespc.com/bynd
About Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C.:
Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C. is a nationally recognized law firm with offices in New York and California. 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.
Melissa Fortunato, Esq.
Marion Passmore, Esq.
(212) 355-4648
investigations@bespc.com
www.bespc.com