Friday April 24, 9:27 pm Eastern Time
Class action lawsuit filed against GenRad
BOSTON, April 24 (Reuters) - Some investors filed a lawsuit against electronic systems provider GenRad Inc of Westford, Mass. and its chief executive on Friday claiming the company lied and mislead them.
The suit, which sought class action status, was filed in the U.S. District Court in Boston on Friday. The plaintiffs, investors in a Nevada-based limited partnership named Duck Enterprises, said in court papers that GenRad President and Chief Executive Officer James Lyons expressed confidence in the company's annual report released in January that the firm would maintain its revenue and earnings growth in 1998.
GenRad's stock plunged 40 percent last Friday after the firm stunned Wall Street with first-quarter earnings that fell well below analysts' expectations.
The investors were seeking unspecified damages in the lawsuit. A GenRad spokesman said Friday, ''We've not been served and our attorneys have not been served with the suit, so we don't know anything about it.''
In February, Lyons told analysts GenRad would earn no less than $1.50 a share in 1998, the court papers said.
The investors also cited a Feb 23 Securities and Exchange Commission filing in which the company said it expected a backlog of inventory to be turned into revenues by the end of March 1998.
Apparently that did not materialize and the company reported it earned $0.05 per diluted share, excluding a net deferred tax benefit, in its first quarter, compared with $0.23 a share in the year-earlier period. It was far below analysts expectations.
GenRad attributed the income shortfall to a shift in product mix, lower productivity and higher operating costs.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More Quotes and News: Genrad Inc (NYSE:GEN - news)
F.W.I.W. I see gen. going to at least 15.00, and
maby it will go as low as 12.00 ( A screaming BUY! )
TomOrt |
