Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C. Reminds Investors That Class Action Lawsuits Have Been Filed Against Ardelyx, SelectQuote, Katapult, and Waterdrop Sciences and Encourages Investors to Contact the Firm
NEW YORK, Sept. 22, 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 Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARDX), SelectQuote, Inc. (NYSE: SLQT), Katapult Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: KPLT), and Waterdrop Inc. (NYSE: WDH). 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.
Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARDX)
Class Period: August 6, 2020 to July 19, 2021
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: September 28, 2021
Ardelyx is a specialized biopharmaceutical company focused on developing medicine to improve treatment for people with cardiorenal disease, including patients with chronic kidney disease (“CKD”) on dialysis suffering from elevated serum phosphorus, or hyperphosphatemia.
In June 2020, Ardelyx submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) for its lead product candidate, tenapanor, a supposedly first-in-class medicine for the control of serum phosphorus in adult patients with CKD on dialysis. Ardelyx’s NDA was purportedly supported by successful Phase 3 studies, which, according to the complaint, showed “improvements” over current treatments and supported tenapanor’s “clinical safety and efficacy,” reinforcing its “potential” to be a “transformative” treatment.
After the market closed on July 19, 2021, however, Ardelyx revealed that it had received a letter from the FDA stating that it had detected issues with both the size and clinical relevance of the drug’s treatment effect.
On this news, the Company’s share price declined, falling $9.71 per share, or nearly 74%, to close at $2.01 per share on July 20, 2021.
On May 11, 2021, SelectQuote held a conference call in connection with its third quarter 2021 financial results during which it disclosed that its fourth quarter results would be impacted by a “negative cohort and tail adjustment" due to “lower second-term persistency for the 2019 cohort.”
On this news, the Company’s share price fell $5.50, or 20%, to close at $21.90 per share on May 12, 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 made material misrepresentations concerning the following: (1) that SelectQuote’s 2019 cohort was underperforming; (2) that, as a result, the Company’s financial results would be adversely impacted; and (3) 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.
Class Period: December 18, 2021 to August 10, 2021
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: October 26, 2021
On June 9, 2021, Katapult became a public company via business combination with FinServ, a blank check company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses.
On August 10, 2021, Katapult issued a press release announcing disappointing financial results for the second quarter of 2021 including a net loss of $8.1 million, compared to $5.1 million in net income for the second quarter of 2020. The Company further disclosed that it "observed meaningful [negative] changes in both e-commerce retail sales forecasts and consumer spending behavior" and retracted its full year 2021 guidance, claiming it could not "accurately predict our consumer’s buying behaviors for the remainder of the year."
On this news, the Company’s share price fell $5.47, or more than 56%, to close at $4.26 per share on August 10, 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 Katapult was experiencing declining e-commerce retail sales and consumer spending, (2) that despite Katapult’s assertions that it was clear and compelling value proposition to both consumers and merchants, transforming the way nonprime consumers shop for essential goods and enabling merchant access to this underserved segment, Katapult lacked visibility into its consumers’ future buying behavior; and (3) as a result, Defendants’ statements about its business, operations, and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked reasonable basis at all relevant times.
On June 17, 2021, Waterdrop issued a press release announcing Waterdrop’s financial results for the quarter conducted before the IPO. In doing so, Waterdrop reported that its operating costs and expenses had ballooned over 75%, or RMB579.1 million, to RMB1,343.9 million (US$205.1 million). As a result, Waterdrop suffered an operating loss for the quarter of RMB460.6 million (US$70.3 million), compared with operating loss of RMB111.1 million for the same period of 2020 – a more than four-fold increase. This rapid increase in operating expenses was due largely to the cessation of Waterdrop’s mutual aid business and growing customer acquisition costs.
Then, on August 11, 2021, multiple news sources reported that China’s banking and insurance watchdog, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, had issued an order directing insurance companies to cease improper marketing and pricing practices rampant in the industry and enhance their user privacy protections. Failure to comply would reportedly result in the offenders being “severely punished” by Chinese authorities. As Bloomberg reported, “[r]egulators have since moved to shutter some operations including mutual aid healthcare platforms operated by Waterdrop.” The article continued: “he latest move will stymie growth in an industry that had been expected to grow to 2.5 trillion yuan ($385 billion) in a decade.”
Finally, on September 8, 2021, Waterdrop revealed that its operating losses for the quarter ended June 30, 2021 had continued to accelerate, totaling RMB815.4 million (US$126.3 million), compared with an operating profit of RMB7.2 million for the same period of 2020. This was once again due to a sharp increase in Waterdrop’s operating costs and expenses, as Waterdrop’s operating costs and expenses during the quarter increased by RMB1,081.1 million, or 160.5% year over year, to RMB1,754.7 million (US$271.8 million) from RMB673.6 million for the same period of 2020.
On September 13, 2021, Waterdrop ADSs dropped to a low of just $3 per ADS –75% below the price at which Waterdrop ADSs were sold to the investing public just four months previously.
The Complaint alleges that the IPO’s Registration Statement failed to disclose that Waterdrop was the subject of an intense regulatory investigation and pending crackdown by Chinese authorities because of a variety of market abuses perpetrated by Waterdrop used to artificially inflate Waterdrop’s short-term financial results in the lead up to the IPO, including, among other things: (i) operating insurance platforms without proper governmental authorizations; (ii) mispricing risks for consumers; and (iii) illicitly using client information. The Waterdrop class action lawsuit further alleges that, unbeknownst to investors, the reason that Waterdrop had discontinued its mutual aid segment was because it had been ordered to do so by Chinese regulators. Furthermore, Waterdrop had suffered rapidly accelerating operating losses in the first quarter of 2021 which was completed weeks before the IPO.
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.
