NEW YORK, July 04, 2024 (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 The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE: SMG), Gritstone bio, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRTS), Roblox Corporation (NYSE: RBLX), and Rivian Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: RIVN). 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.
The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE: SMG)
Class Period: November 3, 2021 – August 1, 2023
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: August 2, 2024
Scotts produces various lawn, garden, and agricultural products for both consumer and professional purposes. It is also the world’s largest marketer of branded consumer products for lawn and garden care. In 2014, Scotts formed a wholly owned subsidiary, The Hawthorne Gardening Company, which focuses on hydroponics for the emerging cannabis growing market. The Company sells a vast majority of its products through third-party distributors.
During the Class Period, Scotts was highly leveraged, with its senior secured credit facilities containing various restrictive covenants and cross-default provisions that require the Company maintain specific financial ratios. A breach of any of these covenants could result in a default, enabling the Company’s lenders to declare all outstanding indebtedness immediately due and payable. A key covenant required that Scotts maintain a debt-to-EBITDA ratio under 6.25. In 2020 and 2021, prior to the beginning of the Class Period, Scotts had missed out on millions of dollars in sales due to a lack of inventory as it faced surging demand. In response to this strong demand, Scotts significantly increased its inventory.
The complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants made numerous materially false and misleading statements and omissions concerning the Company’s inventory levels, debt covenant compliance, and financial performance. Specifically, Defendants repeatedly assured investors that the Company’s inventory levels were appropriate, while attributing strong sales to “selling through high-cost inventory,” which resulted in “peak selling” and “record” shipments. Defendants also repeatedly assuaged investors’ concerns about the Company’s debt, stating that they were “optimistic we will remain within the bounds of our bank covenants” and “[did] not see leverage compliance issues going forward.” As a result of these misrepresentations, Scotts common stock traded at artificially inflated prices during the Class Period.
The complaint further alleges that in reality, Scotts’ executives engaged in a scheme to saturate the Company’s sales channels with more inventory than could be sold to end users. This scheme enabled Scotts to book as revenue the sales to its distributors and maintain earnings to debt ratios that just barely exceeded those required by its debt covenants.
The complaint further alleges that the truth began to emerge on June 8, 2022, when Scotts revealed that replenishment orders from its U.S. retailers were $300 million below target in the month of May alone. The Company also cut its 2022 full-year earnings guidance by roughly half and announced plans to take on additional debt to cover restructuring charges as it attempted to cut costs. These disclosures came mere weeks after the Company promised that it was “tracking to do even better” than its guidance. However, throughout the rest of the Class Period, Defendants continued to downplay the Company’s inventory and debt compliance issues.
Then, on August 2, 2023, Scotts revealed that quarterly sales for its fiscal third quarter had declined by 6% and gross margins fell by 420 basis points. The Company also slashed fiscal year EBITDA guidance by a staggering 25% and announced it had to take a $20 million write down for “pandemic driven excess inventories.” Scotts further disclosed that it had to modify its debt covenants from 6.25 times debt-to-EBITDA ratio to 7.00 times debt-to-EBITDA ratio. As a result of these disclosures, the price of Scotts common stock declined precipitously.
For more information on the Scotts class action go to: https://bespc.com/cases/SMG
Gritstone bio, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRTS)
Class Period: March 9, 2023 – February 29, 2024
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: August 6, 2024
Gritstone, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, engages in developing vaccine-based immunotherapy candidates against cancer and infectious diseases.
In September 2023, Gritstone entered into a contract with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (“BARDA”) to run a 10,000 participant, randomized Phase 2b double-blinded study to compare the efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate (a samRNA vaccine candidate) with an approved COVID-19 vaccine (the “Phase 2b CORAL Study” or the “Study”). In a press release announcing the Phase 2b CORAL Study, the Company stated that the contract “provides strong validation of [its] innovative vaccine platform in infectious diseases,” that execution of the study would be fully funded by BARDA, and that the Study would be expected to launch in the first quarter of 2024.
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) the Company would be unable to launch the Phase 2b CORAL Study in the timeframe it had represented to investors; (ii) the foregoing would impair Gritstone’s ability to obtain external funding in connection with the Study, thereby negatively affecting Gritstone’s ability to maintain its balance sheet and cash position; (iii) accordingly, Gritstone overstated its ability to successfully develop and commercialize its products; (iv) as a result, the Company’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
On February 12, 2024, Gritstone issued a press release announcing that the Company was delaying the launch of the Study until Fall 2024 to purportedly “allow use of fully GMP-grade raw materials in the vaccine, which is expected to increase the regulatory utility of the trial.”
Then, on February 29, 2024, Gritstone issued a press release “announc[ing] an approximately 40% reduction of its workforce”, stating that “[t]he move comes following the recently announced delay of the proposed CORAL Phase 2b study, which resulted in Gritstone not receiving external funding it previously anticipated beginning in 1Q 2024, associated with the initiation of the study.”
On this news, Gritstone’s stock price fell $0.78 per share, or 27.86%, to close at $2.02 per share on March 1, 2024.
For more information on the Gritstone class action go to: https://bespc.com/cases/GRTS
Roblox Corporation (NYSE: RBLX)
Class Period: November 15, 2023 – May 8, 2024
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: August 9, 2024
Roblox is an online entertainment publisher and distributor which also sells advertising space on those platforms.
The Roblox class action lawsuit alleges that defendants throughout the Class Period made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that defendants created the false impression that they possessed reliable information pertaining to Roblox’s projected revenue outlook and anticipated bookings growth, due largely to expansion in Roblox’s available platforms, changes in Roblox’s digital technology (such as avatars), Roblox’s shared economy with content creators, and advertising revenue. According to the Roblox class action lawsuit, in fact, Roblox faced difficulty converting daily active users into bookings and eventually blamed the very technology and platform growth Roblox lauded as revolutionary and revenue-generating for this bookings problem.
The Roblox class action lawsuit further alleges that on May 8, 2024, Roblox revised down its fiscal year 2024 bookings guidance to $4.0 billion to $4.14 billion and revised down total revenue to $3.30 billion to $3.40 billion.
On this news, the price of Roblox stock fell more than 22%, according to the complaint.
For more information on the Roblox class action go to: https://bespc.com/cases/RBLX
Rivian Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: RIVN)
Class Period: August 12, 2022 – February 21, 2024
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: July 30, 2024
According to the Complaint, Defendants failed to disclose to investors that: (i) Rivian had overstated demand for its electric vehicles (“EVs”); (ii) Rivian had concealed the negative effect inflation and higher interest rates were having on demand for its EVs; (iii) the number of orders in Rivian’s order bank had decreased due to cancellations and other factors; (iv) Rivian was failing to ramp up its production of EVs at the rate it claimed; and (v) all the foregoing was likely to, and did, negatively impact the Company’s anticipated earnings and vehicle production targets for 2024.
On February 21, 2024, after the close of trading, Rivian issued a press release announcing its fourth quarter and full year 2023 financial results. As part of these results, Rivian revealed that it planned to produce only 57,000 EVs in 2024, well below the 80,000 EVs expected by analysts. Rivian also revealed an adjusted EBITDA loss of $2.7 billion expected for 2024, versus a $2.59 billion loss expected by analysts, blaming “[e]conomic and geopolitical uncertainties and pressures, most notably the impact of historically high interest rates.” Rivian also announced it would cut 10% of salaried staff..
On this news, Rivian’s stock price fell $3.94 per share, or 25.6%, to close at $11.45 per share on February 22, 2024.
For more information on the Rivian class action go to: https://bespc.com/cases/RIVN
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.
Marion Passmore, Esq.
(212) 355-4648
investigations@bespc.com
www.bespc.com
