NEW YORK, Aug. 16, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --
- Do you, or did you, own shares of Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: APLD)?
- Did you purchase your shares between April 13, 2022 and July 26, 2023, inclusive?
- Did you lose money in your investment in Applied Digital Corporation?
- Do you want to discuss your rights?
Bernstein Liebhard LLP announces that a securities class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of investors who purchased or acquired the securities of Applied Digital Corporation (“Applied Digital” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: APLD) between April 13, 2022 and July 26, 2023, inclusive (the “Class Period”). The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas and alleges violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 against the Company and certain of its officers (the “Complaint”).
If you purchased or acquired Applied Digital securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit Applied Digital Corporation Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@bernlieb.com.
According to the Complaint, Applied Digital, originally known as Applied Blockchain, designs, develops, and operates datacenters in North America, and provides artificial intelligence (“AI”) cloud services, computing datacenter hosting, and crypto datacenter hosting services.
Plaintiff alleges that Defendants made materially false and misleading statements throughout the Class Period. Among other things, Defendants failed to disclose to investors that: (i) Applied Digital had overstated the profitability of its datacenter hosting business and its ability to successfully transition into a low-cost AI Cloud services provider; (ii) Applied Digital’s Board of Directors was not independent within the meaning of NASDAQ listing rules; (iii) accordingly, Applied Digital had overstated the efficacy of its business model and failed to maintain proper corporate governance standards; and (iv) the foregoing, once revealed, was likely to subject the Company to significant financial and/or reputational harm.
In July 2023, market analysts began scrutinizing Applied Digital’s business model as well as assembling the various connections between Applied Digital and B. Riley into a cogent picture. First, on July 6, 2023, market analysts Wolfpack Research (“Wolfpack”) and The Bear Cave (“Bear Cave”) published short reports on Applied Digital. The Wolfpack report raised questions about the viability of the Company’s business model, stating, for example, that the Company “pumped up its stock in May by claiming to pivot from a floundering business hosting bitcoin miners, to becoming a low-cost AI Cloud service provider,” and “[t]he explosion of interest in AI after the emergence of Chat GPT has predictably attracted the worst promoters []to peddle fake AI wares to credulous investors, and our analysis indicates that [Applied Digital] is one of these grifters because it is not an AI company[.]” The Bear Cave report, for its part, detailed Applied Digital’s problematic corporate history, alleging that “Applied Digital relies on puffery over substance and is a perfect case study on our market’s bizarre underbelly of reverse mergers, microcaps, and shell companies.”
On this news, Applied Digital’s stock price fell $1.27 per share, or 14.16%, to close at $7.70 per share on July 6, 2023.
Finally, on July 26, 2023, The Friendly Bear published a short report on Applied Digital. The Friendly Bear report expressed the view that B. Riley, among other things, “is controlling managerial decisions at Applied Digital to the detriment of Applied Digital shareholders” and that conflicts of interest undermined the Company’s purported investigation into sexual harassment claims made the previous month.
On this news, Applied Digital’s stock price fell $0.60 per share, or 6%, over the following two trading sessions, to close at $9.40 per share on July 28, 2023.
If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than October 11, 2023. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn’t require that you serve as lead plaintiff. If you choose to take no action, you may remain an absent class member.
If you purchased or acquired Applied Digital securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit Applied Digital Corporation Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@bernlieb.com.
Since 1993, Bernstein Liebhard LLP has recovered over $3.5 billion for its clients. In addition to representing individual investors, the Firm has been retained by some of the largest public and private pension funds in the country to monitor their assets and pursue litigation on their behalf. As a result of its success litigating hundreds of lawsuits and class actions, the Firm has been named to The National Law Journal’s “Plaintiffs’ Hot List” thirteen times and listed in The Legal 500 for sixteen consecutive years.
ATTORNEY ADVERTISING. © 2023 Bernstein Liebhard LLP. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Bernstein Liebhard LLP, 10 East 40th Street, New York, New York 10016, (212) 779-1414. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.
Contact Information:
Peter Allocco
Bernstein Liebhard LLP
https://www.bernlieb.com
(212) 951-2030
pallocco@bernlieb.com
