Berman devalerio files securities class action against american
superconductor corp.
Boston--(business wire)--the law firm of berman devalerio filed a securities class action lawsuit today against american superconductor corporation (nasdaq: amsc) (“american superconductor,” “amsc” or the “company”). the lawsuit alleges violations of united states securities laws on behalf of purchasers of amsc’s common stock from july 29, 2010 through and including april 5, 2011 (the “class period”) and purchasers in amsc’s public offering, commencing on november 12, 2010 (the “november offering”). berman devalerio (www.bermandevalerio.com) brought the complaint against american superconductor, certain of the company’s directors and officers, and three underwriters of the november offering in the united states district court for the district of massachusetts. the case is filed under docket no. 11-cv-10849. pursuant to the private securities litigation reform act of 1995, investors wishing to serve as the lead plaintiff are required to file a motion for appointment with the court no later than june 6, 2011. the claims arise under sections 11, 12(a)(2) and 15 of the securities act of 1933 (the “securities act”) for purchasers in the november offering; and sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the securities exchange act of 1934 (the “exchange act”) and rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder by the united states securities and exchange commission (“sec”) for class period purchasers. based in devens, mass., american superconductor provides wind turbine designs and electrical control systems primarily in north america, europe and the asia-pacific region. during the class period, the complaint alleges, the company’s revenues came largely from a single customer: sinovel wind group co., ltd. (“sinovel”), a wind-turbine maker based in china. sales to sinovel accounted for 79% of the company’s total revenues reported for the second quarter of 2010 and 73% of total revenues reported for the third quarter of 2010, the complaint says. throughout the class period, the company and certain individual defendants knowingly or recklessly issued false statements about amsc’s revenues and projected profits, the quality of the company’s financial reporting controls and the strength of its relationship with sinovel, the complaint states. documents included in the november offering specifically incorporated sec filings that contained certain of those untrue statements, according to the complaint. the truth began to emerge on december 11, 2010, the complaint states, when barron’s reported that american superconductor was headed for a decline because sinovel was suffering from a glut in inventory, as revealed in documents associated with sinovel’s anticipated initial public offering of securities in china. though defendant greg yurek, american superconductor’s ceo, denied to barron’s that there were any problems, the company’s stock fell more than 9% on the news. then, on april 5, 2011, american superconductor announced after the markets closed that it was reporting lower revenues and earnings than it had previously forecast for the fourth quarter of its 2010 fiscal year (“q4 2010”), and lowering its guidance to analysts for its full 2010 fiscal year. the company blamed the lowered expectations on sinovel, disclosing that sinovel had “refused to accept” delivery of certain contracted shipments of wind turbine core electrical components shipped to sinovel during q4 2010. the company further stated that it believed sinovel “intends to reduce its level of inventory before accepting further shipments” and that amsc planned to “review the appropriateness of the timing of its revenue recognition on approximately $56 million of unpaid shipments in the second, third and fourth quarters of fiscal 2010” to sinovel. as a result of the april 5, 2011 disclosure, amsc’s stock price fell more than 41%, from $24.88 per share to a close of $14.47 per share on april 6, 2011. to receive a copy of the complaint, please call berman devalerio at (800) 516-9926 or click here. if you are a member of the class, you may, no later than june 6, 2011, request that the court appoint you as lead plaintiff for the class. you may contact the attorneys at berman devalerio to discuss your rights and interests in the case. please note: you may also retain counsel of your choice and need not take any action at this time to be a class member. berman devalerio is a national law firm representing plaintiffs in lawsuits against corporate wrongdoers, chiefly for violations of securities and antitrust laws. the firm has 39 lawyers in boston, san francisco and palm beach gardens, florida.
