Re: Company blames stock drop on Net rumors (IMPH)
Company blames stock drop on Net rumors
By Reuters
Impath Inc. denied Wednesday that it was under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, responding to what it said were rumors on the Internet that it was the subject of such a probe.
The stock, which was trading at $38 last week, has dropped steeply since then. Impath (IMPH) was down $1 at 30-1/4 by late afternoon Wednesday.
In a statement, the company said it is not being investigated by the SEC and that there is no basis for such an investigation.
In addition, Impath said the fundamentals of its business continue to remain strong and reaffirmed its financial reports and press releases relating to its past performance.
A spokeswoman for Impath said the allegations of the SEC probe began appearing in the chat section of Yahoo last Friday and that the stock had fallen sharply since then.
"We thought we could ignore these rumors, but they refuse to go away," the spokeswoman said, adding that, "There's no news from the company and nothing has changed."
On Tuesday, Prudential Securities dropped coverage of Impath. The analyst was not available to comment or elaborate on his action.
"While it is company policy not to comment on rumors or unfounded statements, the company is issuing this response because these false and irresponsible statements are potentially damaging to Impath and its stockholders," Dr. Anu D. Saad, president and CEO, said in the statement.
Impath Inc. is a leading source of cancer information and analyses with a database of over 350,000 analyzed cancer cases. It provides patient-specific cancer diagnostic, prognostic, and treatment information to more than 4,000 physicians.
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