NEW YORK, Sept. 02, 2020 (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 Wins Finance Holdings, Inc. (NADSAQ: WINS), Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE: GWRE), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC), and Velocity Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VEL). 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.
Wins Finance Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: WINS)
Class Period: October 31, 2018 to July 6, 2020
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: September 23, 2020
Wins, through its subsidiaries, purports to provide financing solutions for small and medium enterprises in the People’s Republic of China. The Company purports to offer financial guarantees, as well as financial leasing, advisory, consultancy, and agency services in Jinzhong City, Shanxi Province, and Beijing.
In 2014, Wins entered into a RMB 580 million credit agreement with Guohong Asset Management Co., Ltd. (the “Guohong Loan”), pursuant to which Guohong’s repayment was due to Wins in October 2019.
In September 2017, Wins engaged Centurion ZD CPA & Co. (“CZD”) as its independent registered public accounting firm after dismissing its previous accounting firm.
On October 31, 2019, Wins filed a notification of inability to timely file Form 20-F on Form NT 20-F with the Securities and Exchange Commission(“SEC”) (the “2019 NT 20-F”).
The following trading day, the Company’s stock price declined from $11.90 to $11.20, or 5.8%.
On November 19, 2019, Wins issued a press release announcing its receipt of a notification letter from the NASDAQ Listing Qualifications and its intent to submit a plan of compliance, adding that the filing of the 2019 20-F was untimely due to the uncertainty over recovery of the Guohong Loan but assuring investors that failure to collect on the loan would “not impact the Company’s ongoing operations.”
Then, on May 26, 2020, Wins issued a press release announcing that the Company received a delisting determination letter from Nasdaq. The press release stated, in relevant part, “[a]s disclosed previously, the Company is working assiduously to complete its delinquent filing with SEC and to regain compliance with the Nasdaq listing rule as soon as possible.”
On this news, Wins’s stock price closed at $7.81 per share on May 26, 2020, in contrast to its previous close of $10.06, a decline of 22.3%.
The Company’s undisclosed ongoing financial difficulties—including non-repayment of the Guohong Loan—and material control weaknesses came to a head on June 30, 2020, when CZD resigned as the Company’s independent auditor after less than three years in that role. On July 6, 2020, Wins issued a press release announcing CZD’s resignation.
On this news, Wins’s stock price fell $2.06 per share, or 6.1%, to close at $31.70 per share on July 7, 2020.
The Complaint, filed on July 24, 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) the ultimate repayment of the RMB 580 million Guohong Loan was highly uncertain; (ii) nonpayment of the Guohong Loan would have a significant impact on the Company’s financial and operating condition; (iii) weaknesses in Wins’s internal control over its financial reporting persisted despite the Company’s repeated assurances to investors that it was taking steps to remediate these weaknesses; (iv) the foregoing issues, among others, made the resignation of Wins’s independent auditor foreseeably likely; and (v) as a result, the Company’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
For more information on the Wins Finance class action go to: https://bespc.com/WINS-2
Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE: GWRE)
Class Period: March 6, 2019 to March 4, 2020
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: September 23, 2020
Guidewire provides enterprise-level software systems for the property and casualty (“P&C”) insurance industry. During the Class Period, defendants represented to investors that Guidewire was well-positioned to capitalize on a shift in the P&C insurance industry away from on-premise software systems to software systems provided over the cloud. Defendants touted the “robust” demand that existed for Guidewire’s cloud-based products and assured investors that customer demand was “enduring and broad-based across most or all segments of the market.” Defendants further touted the demand for Guidewire’s cloud offering by reporting, at the end of each quarter, that cloud sales represented a substantial and growing percentage of the Company’s overall sales. The Company also issued highly favorable revenue and Annual Recurring Revenue (“ARR”) guidance, and assured investors that customer demand remained strong across the Company’s entire product offering, including its legacy on-premise business.
On March 4, 2020, only three months after reiterating its strong revenue guidance for fiscal 2020, the truth about Guidewire’s failed cloud transition emerged. In announcing its financial results for the second quarter of 2020, the Company was forced to slash its revenue guidance for fiscal year 2020 by $57 million, from a range of $759 million to $771 million down to $702 million to $714 million. Rather than forecasting a year-over-year revenue increase of up to 7% for fiscal 2020, the Company was now forecasting a substantial revenue decline of approximately 7.5%. The Company similarly lowered its critical ARR guidance to be between 11% and 12% in fiscal 2020, compared to its previous range of 14% to 16%.
On this news, Guidewire’s stock price plummeted by 17% in a single day, falling from $112.48 on March 3, 2020 to $93.56 on March 4, 2020, a decline of $18.92 per share.
The complaint, filed on July 24, 2020, alleges that the demand for Guidewire’s cloud products was weak and the Company’s transition to the cloud was not going well because Guidewire’s cloud-based products needed to be significantly improved to meet customer needs and catch-up with rival systems. Further, Guidewire’s failed transition to the cloud was damaging the Company’s traditional on-premise business, as customers delayed purchasing decisions or declined to renew existing licenses. As a result, Guidewire’s revenue guidance, including guidance principally based on significantly increasing demand for the Company’s cloud-based products, was baseless and unattainable.
For more information on the Guidewire class action go to: https://bespc.com/GWRE
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC)
Class Period: April 23, 2020 to July 23, 2020
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: September 28, 2020
On July 23, 2020, after the market closed, Intel disclosed that production of its 7-nanometer chips would be delayed after the Company had “identified a defect mode in [its] 7-nanometer process that resulted in yield degradation.”
On this news, the Company’s share price fell by $9.81, or approximately 16%, to close at $50.59 per share on July 24, 2020.
The complaint, filed on July 28, 2020, 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 Intel had identified a defect mode in its 7-nanometer process that resulted in yield degradation; (2) that, as a result, the Company would experience a six-month delay in its production schedule for 7-nanometer products; (3) that Intel was reasonably likely to rely on third-party foundries for manufacturing its 7-nanometer products; (4) that, as a result of the foregoing, Intel was reasonably likely to lose market share to its competitors who are already selling 7-nanometer products; 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 Intel class action go to: https://bespc.com/INTC-2
Velocity Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VEL)
Class Period: Common stock purchased pursuant and/or traceable to the Registration Statement and Prospectus, as amended, issued in connection with Velocity’s January 2020 IPO.
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: September 28, 2020
Velocity is a real estate finance company that originates and manages loans issued to borrowers nationwide to finance the purchase of small residential rental and commercial real estate investment properties.
On April 8, 2020, Velocity announced its financial and operational results for the 2019 fourth quarter and full year. The Company stated it had suspended all loan origination operations due to market volatility and that it was experiencing enhanced delinquencies in its loan portfolio and had implemented various strategies to attempt to “address this challenge.” On May 13, 2020, Velocity announced its financial and operational results for the first quarter of 2020 – the same quarter in which the IPO was conducted. The Company stated that its net income had decreased 50% sequentially during the quarter to just $2.6 million.
By May 15, 2020, Velocity stock was trading at just $2.53 per share – more than 80% below the $13.00 price investors paid for the stock in the IPO just four months previously.
The complaint, filed on July 29, 2020, alleges that defendants failed to disclose that, at the time of the IPO, the Company’s non-performing loans had dramatically increased in size from the figures provided in the offering materials, as measured by both the amount of unpaid principal balance and as a percentage of the Company’s overall loan portfolio. In addition, defendants failed to provide any information to investors regarding the potential impact of the novel coronavirus on Velocity’s business and operations, despite the fact that the international spread of the virus had already been confirmed at the time of the IPO. The failure to disclose the substantial and growing proportion of the Company’s loans that were non-performing and/or on non-accrual status as of the IPO rendered the statements contained in the Offering Materials regarding the quality of the Company’s loan portfolio and underwriting practices materially misleading.
For more information on the Velocity Financial class action go to: https://bespc.com/VEL
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.
Brandon Walker, Esq.
Melissa Fortunato, Esq.
Marion Passmore, Esq.
(212) 355-4648
investigations@bespc.com
www.bespc.com