BALA CYNWYD, Pa., Dec. 4, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP announced today that it recently filed lawsuits on behalf of shareholders of Apple Computer, Inc., Teradyne, Inc., GenesisIntermedia, Inc. and Providian Financial Corporation for violations of the federal securities laws.
If you purchased the securities of any of the companies listed below during the class period, you may be a member of the class and have until the date specified to move the court to become the lead plaintiff. For more information on a particular lawsuit and to view the complaint, you may visit our Website at www.sbclasslaw.com. To learn more about your rights and interests in these cases and your ability to potentially recoup your losses, please contact Schiffrin & Barroway directly at 888-299-7706 (toll free) or 610-822-2221, fax number 610-822-0002 or by e-mail at info@sbclasslaw.com.
APPLE COMPUTER, INC. (Nasdaq:AAPL) (Class Period: 07/19/00 - 09/28/00). The complaint charges Apple Computer, Inc. and certain of its officers and directors with issuing false and misleading statements concerning its business and financial condition. Specifically, the complaint alleges that on 7/18-19/00, Apple introduced its new Power Mac G4 Dual Processor, G4 Cube and iMac personal computers, representing that they were exceptionally powerful, fast and attractive, coming with exceptionally attractive designs and containing new and revolutionary features. At this time, Apple represented that the development of these new products was completed, they were ready for mass production and would be available in quantity very shortly. Apple claimed this would result in Apple achieving strong revenue and earnings per share ("EPS") growth in its 4thQ F00 (to end 9/30/00) and F01. As a result, Apple's stock climbed to a Class Period high of $64-1/8 in early 9/00, when four top Apple officers sold 370,000 shares of their Apple stock for $22 million. Suddenly, just 20-25 trading days later, on 9/28/00, Apple shocked investors by revealing a huge 4thQ F00 revenue and EPS shortfall due to very poor sales to its education (K-12) market and poor consumer acceptance of its new personal computer products (some of which had been late to market, had defects and lacked features which were essential for market success), resulting in the accumulation of excessive inventories of finished goods in Apple's distribution channel and Apple having to cancel component part orders and, thereby, incur financial penalties. As rumors of Apple's troubles circulated prior to and then following Apple's shocking disclosure, Apple's stock collapsed from $61-3/64 on 9/20/00 to $25-3/8 on 9/29/00, continuing to fall to as low as $17 and then to $13-5/8, as investors absorbed the full impact of these shocking revelations, a stock decline that wiped out over $10 billion of Apple's market capitalization in just a few days. The complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The lead plaintiff motion must be filed no later than December 15, 2001.
TERADYNE, INC. (NYSE:TER) (Class Period: 07/14/00 - 10/17/00). The complaint charges Teradyne and certain of its officers and directors with issuing false and misleading statements concerning its business and financial condition. Specifically, the complaint alleges that Teradyne was experiencing declining orders in its semiconductors testing systems division, which would cause the Company's growth rate to slow from historical levels. Defendants concealed this adverse fact from investors, so that the Company could complete the acquisition of Herco Technology Corporation and Perception Laminates, Inc., d/b/a/ Synthane Taylor, using artificially inflated Teradyne common stock as currency. When the truth about Teradyne's business was revealed to the public, the price of Teradyne common stock dropped precipitously, causing plaintiff and the members of the Class to suffer substantial damages. The complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The lead plaintiff motion must be filed no later than December 17, 2001.
GENESIS INTERMEDIA, INC. (Nasdaq:GENI) (Class Period: 12/21/99 - 09/25/01). The complaint charges GenesisIntermedia and certain of its officers and directors with issuing false and misleading statements concerning its business and financial condition. Specifically, the complaint alleges that in December 1999, defendants plotted and unleashed their scheme to inflate the price of GenesisIntermedia shares and gave shares worth more than $3 million to a financial commentator who helped send the stock soaring after he agreed to issue allegedly false, positive recommendations for it on CNN, CNBC and Bloomberg Television. However, the complaint alleges defendants concealed the payment of 216,000 shares to the commentator, Courtney Smith, in order to induce the purchase of GenesisIntermedia shares and raise tens of millions of dollars via multiple private securities offerings. As a result of defendants' false statements, GenesisIntermedia's stock price traded at inflated levels during the Class Period, increasing to as high as $25 in June 2001. Then after the close of the market on Sept. 25, 2001, GenesisIntermedia's shares were halted pending the resolution of an investigation. GenesisIntermedia shares remain halted and are in essence, worthless. However, just hours before the announcement of the investigation and "halt," defendant El-Batrawi sold over $1.7 million dollars worth of his own shares. The complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. The lead plaintiff motion must be filed no later than December 17, 2001.
PROVIDIAN FINANCIAL CORPORATION (NYSE:PVN) (Class Period: 06/06/01 - 10/18/01. The complaint charges Providian and certain of its officers and directors with issuing false and misleading statements concerning its business and financial condition. Specifically, the complaint alleges that defendants disseminated false and misleading statements concerning the Company's operations and prospects for Q2 and Q3 2001. In late June 2001, Providian changed the way it processes its bankruptcy filings and thus changed when it recognizes losses and deferred the recognition of approximately $30 million of charge-offs from June (and Q2 01) into July. Providian allegedly manipulated its financial statements for Q2 01 and shaved 40 basis points off its Q2 01 managed net charge-off rate of 10.3% and boosted reported EPS by $0.06. Without this change, the loss rate would have been 10.7%. This is well above defendants' guidance of 9.5%-10%. Defendants made no mention of this change on the conference call or in Providian's Q2 01 10-Q. In fact, management only admitted this change after they came under pressure from analysts following a flood of calls to their investor relations department in late August 2001. During the Class Period, taking advantage of the inflation in Providian stock, defendants Alvarez, Mehta and Rowe sold almost $22 million worth of their own Providian stock at artificially inflated prices of as much as $49.30 per share. These sales were out of line with their prior trading history. The complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The lead plaintiff motion must be filed no later than December 18, 2001.
Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP has prosecuted shareholder class actions for over fourteen years and has recovered more than $1 billion for investors.
If you are a shareholder in any of the companies listed above and would like to be a lead plaintiff in one of these securities class actions, please contact Schiffrin & Barroway at 888-299-7706.
More information on these and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca.