NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 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 Qutoutiao, Inc. (NASDAQ: QTT), Vaxart, Inc. (NASDAQ: VXRT), Anaplan, Inc. (NYSE: PLAN), and Blink Charging Company (NASDAQ: BLNK). 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.

Qutoutiao, Inc. (NASDAQ: QTT)

Class Period: Securities purchased (a) pursuant and/or traceable to the Company’s September 2018 initial public offering (“IPO”); and/or (b) between September 14, 2018 and July 15, 2020, inclusive (the “Class Period”)

Lead Plaintiff Deadline: October 19, 2020

In September 2018, the Company completed its IPO, selling 13.8 million ADSs at $7.00 per share.

On December 10, 2019, Wolfpack Research published a report, alleging among other things, that the Company had overstated its revenues by recording non-existent advances from advertising customers. Moreover, the report alleged that Qutoutiao replaced its third-party advertising agent with a related party, thereby bypassing the agent’s oversight and allowing the Company to “perpetrate the unmitigated ad fraud that [Wolfpack] observed in [its] sample.”

On this news, the Company’s share price fell $0.12, or nearly 4%, to close at $2.86 per share on December 11, 2019.

On July 15, 2020, hosts of a consumer rights gala stated that Qutoutiao had allowed ads on its platform promoting exaggerated or impossible claims from weight-loss products. For example, one such ad offered free weight-loss products valued at $14,300 that would help users lose more than 30 pounds a month.

On this news, the Company’s share price fell $0.85, or 23%, to close at $2.84 per share on July 16, 2020.

The complaint, filed on August 20, 2020, alleges that 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 Qutoutiao replaced its advertising agent with a related party, thereby bypassing third-party oversight of the content and quality of the advertisements; (2) that the Company placed advertisements on its mobile app for products whose claims could not be substantiated and thus were considered false advertisements under applicable regulations; (3) that, as a result, the Company would face increasing regulatory scrutiny and reputational harm; (4) that, as a result, the Company’s advertising revenue was reasonably likely to decline; 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 Qutoutiao class action go to: https://bespc.com/QTT

Vaxart, Inc. (NASDAQ: VXRT)

Class Period: June 25, 2020 and July 25, 2020

Lead Plaintiff Deadline: October 23, 2020

The class action arises from defendants’ alleged fraudulent scheme to profit from artificially inflating the Company’s stock price by announcing false and misleading information concerning Vaxart’s oral COVID-19 vaccine candidate, including its purported involvement in the government funded “Operation Warp Speed.”

In furtherance of the scheme, defendants amended controlling shareholder Armistice Capital LLC’s existing warrant agreements, allowing Armistice to exercise all of its warrants immediately and sell 27.6 million Vaxart shares, reaping profits of approximately $200 million. Defendants also issued millions of dollars in favorable stock options to Vaxart’s most senior executives.

On July 25, 2020, details emerged revealing defendants’ deception concerning their alleged pump and dump scheme. In particular, on July 25, 2020, The New York Times published an article entitled, “Corporate Insiders Pocket $1 Billion in Rush for Coronavirus Vaccine,” covering suspiciously timed stock bets that had generated significant profits for senior executives and board members at companies developing vaccines and treatments. Vaxart was featured prominently in the article, and it clarified “Vaxart is not among the companies selected to receive significant financial support from Warp Speed.”

On this news, the price of Vaxart shares declined significantly on July 27, 2020 from $12.29 per share to $11.16 per share.

The complaint, filed on August 24, 2020, alleges that during the Class Period, defendants engaged in a scheme to deceive the market and a course of conduct that artificially inflated the prices of Vaxart’s securities and operated as a fraud or deceit on Class Period purchasers of Vaxart’s securities by failing to disclose to investors that the Company’s financial results were materially misleading and misrepresented material information. When defendants’ misrepresentations and fraudulent conduct were disclosed and became apparent to the market, the prices of Vaxart’s securities fell precipitously as the prior inflation came out of the Company’s stock price.

For more information on the Vaxart class action go to: https://bespc.com/VXRT

Anaplan, Inc. (NYSE: PLAN)

Class Period: November 21, 2019 to February 26, 2020

Lead Plaintiff Deadline: October 23, 2020

On February 27, 2020, the Company announced that, although it slightly exceeded revenue guidance for the quarter ($98.2mm versus $97.5mm estimate), which grew at rate of 42% year-over-year, its calculated billings for the fourth quarter fell far short of expectations. Specifically, billings were only $126 million, representing a growth rate of 25%, which was well below consensus estimates of $138 million, and roughly half of the Company’s historical growth rates of 46% to 59%, and far less than the Company’s rate of revenue growth of over 40%.

In response to this shocking disclosure, that was in stark contrast to the management’s previous statement that the calculated billings growth rate would track the revenue growth rate, Anaplan’s stock price plummeted 25% in a single day, falling from $58.09 to $44.03, wiping out almost $2 billion in market capitalization. Financial news source Barron’s attributed the stock price decline to the slowing billings growth with an article titled “Anaplan stock plunges on concerns about slowing billings growth.”

The complaint, filed on August 24, 2020, alleges that throughout the Class Period defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose to investors that: (1) the Company was undergoing sales organization and execution challenges; (2) these organizational challenges were causing the Company to miss on closing very important large deals; and (3) as a result, Anaplan’s financial guidance for “calculated billings growth” was baseless and unattainable. Further, while in possession of this material non-public information, Anaplan insiders dumped approximately $30 million worth of Anaplan stock at artificially inflated prices.

For more information on the Anaplan securities class action case go to: https://bespc.com/PLAN

Blink Charging Company (NASDAQ: BLNK)

Class Period: March 6, 2020 to August 19, 2020

Lead Plaintiff Deadline: October 23, 2020

On August 19, 2020, analyst Culper Research issued a report on Blink Charging, contending that “the Company has vastly exaggerated the size of its EV charging network in order to siphon money from the pockets of investors to insiders. Blink claims that ‘EV drivers can easily charge at any of its 15,000 charging stations’ but we estimate the Company’s functional public charging station network consists of just 2,192 stations, a mere 15% of this claim.” Culper continued that its “investigators confirmed what Blink’s financials already suggest: almost no one uses Blink’s charging stations, many of which are in utterly decrepit condition.”

On this news, Blink’s stock price fell from its August 18, 2020 closing price of $10.23 per share to an August 20, 2020 closing price of $7.94. This represents a two day drop of approximately 22.4%.

The complaint, filed on August 24, 2020, alleges that throughout the Class Period defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) many of Blink’s charging stations are damaged, neglected, non-functional, inaccessible, or non-accessible; (2) Blink’s purported partnerships and expansions with other companies were overstated; (3) the purported growth of the Company’s network has been overstated; and (4) as a result, the Company’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

For more information on the Blink class action go to: https://bespc.com/BLNK

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