NEW YORK, April 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Cognyte Software Ltd. (“Cognyte” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: CGNT). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980.
The investigation concerns whether Cognyte and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.
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On December 16, 2021, Meta Platforms, Inc. (“Meta”), the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, issued a “Threat Report,” which included the results of its “months-long” investigation into the “surveillance-for-hire industry,” revealing for the first time that Cognyte (along with six private companies) regularly targeted, without their knowledge, journalists, dissidents, critics of authoritarian regimes, families of opposition, and human rights activists around the world, and collected intelligence on these people by manipulating them to reveal information and/or by compromising their devices and accounts, in violation of Facebook’s “multiple community standards and Terms of Service.” In particular, the Threat Report revealed that Cognyte “sells access to its platform which enables managing fake accounts across social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and VKontakte (VK), and other websites to social-engineer people and collect data.” This conduct “violated multiple Community Standards and Terms of Service,” and “given the severity of their violations,” Meta disabled Cognyte’s ability to use its platforms (removing about 100 accounts on Facebook and Instagram), shared is findings with security researchers, other platforms, and policymakers, issued Cease and Desist warnings, and alerted the nearly 50,000 individuals (across 100 countries) who were believed to be targeted to help them strengthen the security of their accounts.
On this news, Cognyte’s stock price fell $3.97 per share, or 20.93%, over the following four trading sessions, to close at $15.00 per share on December 22, 2021.
Then, on April 5, 2022, Cognyte issued its Annual Report on Form 20-F for the period ended January 31, 2022, revealing that “[i]n response to Meta’s allegations [in the Threat Report], we made modifications to certain features of our solutions, which impacted the manner our customers can use these solutions.” That same day, Cognyte reported its fourth quarter 2021 financial results, representing the period during which Facebook disrupted and disabled Cognyte’s use of its platforms for purposes of reconnaissance. Cognyte badly missed analyst consensus estimates for non-GAAP earnings per share and sales, and significantly undershot the midpoint of its guidance range by several millions of dollars, citing in the Company’s accompanying press release “lower conversions within [its] product pipeline,” among other macroenvironmental challenges.
On this news, Cognyte’s stock price fell $3.63 per share, or 31.13%, to close at $8.03 per share on April 5, 2022.
Finally, on June 28, 2022, Cognyte released its first quarter 2022 financial results, which once again, badly missed analyst estimates across the board.
On this news, Cognyte’s stock price fell $1.84 per share, or 28.66%, to close at $4.58 per share on June 28, 2022.
Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered billions of dollars in damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com.
CONTACT:
Robert S. Willoughby
Pomerantz LLP
rswilloughby@pomlaw.com
888-476-6529 ext. 7980
