SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 15, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP reminds investors in StoneMor Partners, L.P. (NYSE:STON) of the January 20, 2017 Lead Plaintiff deadline in the accounting restatement securities class action lawsuit.
If you purchased or otherwise acquired StoneMor common units between January 19, 2012 and October 27, 2016 and suffered over $50,000 in losses contact Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP. For more information visit:
https://www.hbsslaw.com/cases/STON
or contact Reed Kathrein, who is leading the firm’s investigation, by calling 510-725-3000 or emailing STON@hbsslaw.com.
On September 2, 2016, StoneMor announced that investors should no longer rely on the Company’s public financial statements issued between 2013 and the Company’s second quarter of 2016. The Company plans to restate financials after improperly allocating net losses to its General Partner.
On October 27, 2016, StoneMor announced it would slash third quarter 2016 distribution to common unit investors by 50% compared to the previous quarter. This news drove the price of StoneMor units down nearly 45% to close at $13.74 on October 28, 2016.
In addition, SeekingAlpha published a report on October 31, 2016 concluding that StoneMor issued dilutive stock to new investors to pay old investors.
On November 9, 2016, StoneMor filed its Form 10-K/A with the SEC to restate audited financial statements as of December 31, 2015 and 2014, and for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2015. The Company’s CFO (Seth McGrath) commented, “These additional adjustments consist of consolidated balance sheet reclassifications, clean-up of prior period entries that were previously determined to be immaterial to the financial statements, and other historical entries that relate to the GAAP recognition of customer contracts and the related obligations rather than generation of customer billings and related non-GAAP costs….” Further, “we will no longer be able to provide Adjusted EBITDA as a performance metric within future earnings releases.”
“We’re investigating StoneMor’s improper accounting, its use of non-GAAP financial metrics, and the source of funds distributed to investors,” said Hagens Berman partner Reed Kathrein.
Whistleblowers: Persons with non-public information regarding StoneMor should consider their options to help in the investigation or take advantage of the SEC Whistleblower program. Under the new SEC whistleblower program, whistleblowers who provide original information may receive rewards totaling up to 30 percent of any successful recovery made by the SEC. For more information, call Reed Kathrein at 510-725-3000 or email STON@hbsslaw.com.
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