NEW YORK, Oct. 06, 2022 (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 Stitch Fix, Inc. (NASDAQ: SFIX), Coupang, Inc. (NYSE: CPNG), Humanigen, Inc. (NASDAQ: HGEN), and Latch, Inc. (NASDAQ: LTCH). 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.
Stitch Fix, Inc. (NASDAQ: SFIX)
Class Period: December 8, 2020 – March 8, 2022
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: October 25, 2022
Stitch Fix sells a range of apparel, shoes, and accessories through its website and mobile application. Traditionally, Stitch Fix sold products as a "Fix," through which the customer would receive a monthly box of items chosen by a personal stylist. The customer would not know specifically which items they were receiving but would have the option to return whichever items it did not want. The customer paid a $20 "styling fee" per Fix, and that fee would be applied to any of the items the customer chose to buy.
Prior to the Class Period, in 2019, Stitch Fix announced a new direct-buy retail component, eventually named "Freestyle." The Freestyle program allowed customers to shop the site for specific products, giving the customer more control over what items they received, but also removing the curation element that differentiated Stitch Fix from other e-retailers. The Freestyle program was first made available to a subset of existing Stitch Fix customers in 2020, and incrementally rolled out to all existing customers in early 2021. In September 2021, the Freestyle program was formally launched to new customers.
On December 7, 2021, Stitch Fix announced a loss for its first quarter of 2022, cut its full-year revenue projections, and admitted, for the first time, that, as a result of the "expansion into Freestyle," the Company "may experience short-term impacts of cannibalization." As a result of these disclosures, Stitch Fix's share price declined by $5.97 per share, or 24%, from a closing price of $24.97 per share on December 7, 2021, to a closing price of $19.00 per share on December 8, 2021. However, Stitch Fix continued to assure investors that this was a short-term problem.
Then, on March 8, 2022, when Stitch Fix reported earnings for its second quarter of 2022, the Company offered a weak outlook for its third quarter of 2022 and cut its guidance for the full year. Stitch Fix attributed the guidance cut to "friction" between the Freestyle and Fix businesses.
As a result of this disclosure, the price of Stitch Fix stock declined by $0.67 per share, or 6%, from $11.01 per share to $10.34 per share.
The complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Stitch Fix made numerous false and misleading statements to investors concerning the synergy between the Company's Fix and Freestyle programs, and repeatedly denied claims that the Freestyle program could cannibalize the Company's legacy Fix business. Specifically, Stitch Fix repeatedly assured investors that the Company's Freestyle business was "an additive experience" and "complimentary" to the Fix business, that "the combination of those two things will allow us to address many more types of clients," and that "we see solid growth in both sides of the business." In truth, throughout the Class Period, Stitch Fix concealed the fact that these programs were not complementary or additive. Stitch Fix knew that the Freestyle program would be much preferred to the Company's original Fix model, and that the Freestyle program would inevitably cannibalize the Company's legacy Fix business. As a result of these misrepresentations and omissions, Stitch Fix's Class A common stock traded at artificially inflated prices during the Class Period.
For more information on the Missfresh class action go to: https://bespc.com/cases/SFIX
Coupang, Inc. (NYSE: CPNG)
Class Period: Pursuant to the Company’s March 11, 2021 IPO
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: October 25, 2022
On or around March 11, 2021, Coupang conducted its initial public offering (“IPO”), and the company sold 130 million shares for $35.00.
Coupang reported that its annual Total Revenue rose from $11.96 billion in 2020 to over $18.4 billion in 2021, and that its Net Loss increased from $474.89 million in 2020 to over $1.54 billion in 2021.
Since the IPO, Coupang shares have declined to as low as $10.51 per share on June 13, 2022.
The lawsuit focuses on whether the Company and its executives violated federal securities laws by making false and/or misleading statements and/or failing to disclose that: (1) Coupang was engaged in improper anti-competitive practices with its suppliers and other third parties in violation of applicable regulations, including (a) pressuring suppliers to raise prices of products on competing e-commerce platforms to ensure Coupang’s prices would be more competitive; (b) coercing suppliers into purchasing advertisements that would benefit Coupang financially; (c) forcing suppliers to shoulder all expenses from sales promotions; and (d) requesting wholesale rebates from suppliers without specifying any terms relating to rebate programs, all of which served to artificially maintain Coupang’s lower prices and artificially inflate Coupang’s historical revenues and market share; (2) Coupang had improperly adjusted search algorithms and manipulated product reviews on its marketplace platform to prioritize its own private-label branded products over those of other sellers and merchants, to the detriment of consumers, merchants, and suppliers; (3) unbeknownst to its Rocket WOW members, Coupang was selling products to non-member customers at lower prices than those offered to its Rocket WOW members; (4) Coupang subjected its workforce to extreme, unsafe, and unhealthy working conditions; (5) all of the above illicit practices exposed Coupang to a heightened, but undisclosed, risk of reputational and regulatory scrutiny that would harm Coupang’s critical relationships with consumers, merchants, suppliers, and the workforce; and (6) Coupang’s lower prices, historical revenues, competitive advantages, and growing market share were the result of systemic, improper, unethical, and/or illegal practices, and, thus, unsustainable.
For more information on the Coupang class action go to: https://bespc.com/cases/CPNG
Humanigen, Inc. (NASDAQ: HGEN)
Class Period: May 28, 2021 – July 12, 2022
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: October 25, 2022
Humanigen is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that focuses on preventing and treating an immune hyper-response called “cytokine storm”, a physiological reaction in which the immune system causes an uncontrolled and excessive release of pro-inflammatory signaling molecules called cytokines, the sudden release of which in large quantities can cause multisystem organ failure and death. The Company’s lead product candidate is its proprietary antibody lenzilumab, which is under development as a treatment for, among other things, cytokine storm associated with COVID-19.
Among other trials, Humanigen is investigating lenzilumab for the treatment of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the ACTIV-5/BET-B study, which is part of a directed public-private partnership with the National Institutes of Health.
In May 2021, Humanigen submitted an application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) requesting Emergency Use Authorization (“EUA”) for lenzilumab for the treatment of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (the “lenzilumab EUA”).
On September 9, 2021, Humanigen issued a press release announcing that the FDA had rejected the lenzilumab EUA, advising investors that, “[i]n its letter, [the] FDA stated that it was unable to conclude that the known and potential benefits of lenzilumab outweigh the known and potential risks of its use as a treatment for COVID-19.”
On this news, Humanigen’s stock price fell $7.14 per share, or 47.25%, to close at $7.97 per share on September 9, 2021.
Then, on July 13, 2022, Humanigen disclosed that lenzilumab had failed to show statistical significance on the primary endpoint of the ACTIV-5/BET-B study.
On this news, Humanigen’s stock price fell $2.38 per share, or 79.6%, to close at $0.61 per share on July 13, 2022.
The complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) lenzilumab was less effective in treating hospitalized COVID-19 patients than Defendants had represented; (ii) as a result, the FDA was unlikely to approve the lenzilumab EUA and the ACTIV-5/BET-B study was unlikely to meet its primary endpoint; (iii) accordingly, lenzilumab’s clinical and commercial prospects were overstated; and (iv) as a result, the Company’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
For more information on the Humanigen class action go to: https://bespc.com/cases/HGEN
Latch, Inc. (NASDAQ: LTCH)
Class Period: May 31, 2021 – August 25, 2022
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: October 31, 2022
On August 25, 2022, after the market closed, Latch revealed that it would restate financial statements for 2021 and the first quarter of 2022 due to revenue recognition errors related to the sale of hardware devices. Specifically, the Company stated that “certain revenue recognition errors occurred as a result of unreported sales arrangements due to sales activity that was inconsistent with the Company’s internal controls and procedures.”
On this news, Latch’s stock fell $0.13, or 12.2%, to close at $0.95 per share on August 26, 2022, 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 there were unreported sales arrangements related to hardware devices; (2) that, as a result, the Company had improperly recognized revenue throughout fiscal 2021 and first quarter 2022; (3) that there were material weaknesses in Latch’s internal control over financial reporting related to revenue recognition; (4) that, as a result of the foregoing, Latch would restate financial statements for fiscal 2021 and first quarter 2022; 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 Latch class action go to: https://bespc.com/cases/LTCH
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.
(212) 355-4648
investigations@bespc.com
www.bespc.com
