Let's dissect the Milberg press release:
Milberg Weiss today announced that a class action has been commenced in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California on behalf of purchasers of Cymer Inc. ("Cymer") (NASDAQ:CYMI) common stock during the period Apr. 24, 1997 to Sept. 26, 1997 (the "Class Period").
Can someone post a link to a chart showing CYMI's stock price during this time?
What happened around April 24 and September 26 to make Milberg choose these dates as the endpoints of his class period?
When did CYMI go public, and when could insiders first exercise their stock options? Perhaps the insiders could not first exercise their options until sometime during the class period -- many insiders sell at least some of their shares at their first opportunity, to lock in profits and get cash rather than paper.
The complaint charges Cymer and certain of its officers and directors with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Cymer manufactures lasers utilizing deep ultraviolet ("DUV") technology which are incorporated into stepper machines used to manufacture semiconductor chips.
The complaint alleges that defendants' false and misleading statements about rapid acceptance of DUV technology by semiconductor chip manufacturers,
This should be easy to prove, one way or the other.
strong demand and orders for Cymer's Series 5000 KrF excimer DUV lasers,
This should be easy to prove, one way or the other.
its strong backlog of shippable/deliverable orders for these lasers
This should be easy to prove, one way or the other.
and the lack of technical problems with and defects in its lasers,
There will be a lot of argument on this point.
which would result in 40%-50% EPS growth for Cymer over the next several years and 98 EPS of $1.15-$1.20,
Can anyone find public statements by CYMI of these numbers?
artificially inflated Cymer's stock to a Class Period high of $49-1/4 on Aug. 25, 1997.
"Artificially inflated" -- what the hell is that about? Stock price is what it is.
Cymer, its top insiders and controlling shareholders sold or disposed of 1,869,086 shares of their Cymer stock between April 1997 and August 1997, at as high as $45-1/2, generating $48.5 million in proceeds,
As above, when did CYMI go public, and when could insiders first exercise their stock options? Perhaps the insiders could not first exercise their options until sometime during the class period -- many insiders sell at least some of their shares at their first opportunity, to lock in profits and get cash rather than paper.
while Cymer itself completed a very large $173 million convertible debenture offering in August 1997.
These guys would be suing CYMI if its covertible debt offering was made when its stock price was low!
On Sept. 5, 1997, just a few weeks after Cymer's stock hit its all-time high of $49-1/4, and Cymer completed its convertible debenture offering and its top insiders completed their insider selling,
"Completed" their insider selling? What does this mean -- that the insiders sold all their exercisable stock? Or that they stopped selling when CYMI's stock price dropped artificially low?
Cymer's stock began to drop as rumors circulated and some analysts reported that there were quality problems with Cymer's Series 5000 excimer DUV lasers
To CYMI's credit, it droped out of the analyst conference last September.
and that Cymer's customers were pushing out or cancelling earlier orders for Cymer's lasers, which would hurt Cymer's 98-99 results.
It should be easy to determine when CYMI's customers pushed out or cancelled their previous orders.
While Cymer repeatedly denied that these rumors were true,
What did CYMI say at the time? If the rumors were true, and CYMI denied it, then I'm not too happy with CYMI. On the other hand, if the lawsuit mischaracterizes CYMI's statements, then screw Lerach.
Cymer stock dropped to $28-1/8 on Sept. 12, 1997 and to $24-7/8 in late September 1997
Ouch! How can we forget?
and to just $16-1/2 in mid-November 1997,
This is outside the class period...
as and after Cymer was forced to admit that acceptance of DUV photolithography technology by semiconductor manufacturers was slowing, its Series 5000 lasers were encountering extraordinary reliability and performance problems, demand and orders for its lasers had declined and its 98 revenues and EPS would be much lower than earlier forecast.
When did CYMI make these admissions? After the class period? Or was it up front with us?
Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers of Cymer common stock during the Class Period (the "Class").
Plaintiff wants our money. What else is new?
The plaintiff is represented by several law firms, including Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP, who have expertise in prosecuting investor class actions and extensive experience in actions involving financial fraud.
and who are masters at squeezing settlements from high tech companies with volatile stock prices.
Milberg Weiss has been actively engaged in commercial litigation, emphasizing securities and antitrust class actions, for more than 30 years.
Milberg Weiss is rich.
The firm has offices in New York, San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles
Milberg Weiss is very rich.
and is active in major litigation pending in federal and state courts throughout the United States.
and is getting richer...
The firm's reputation for excellence has been recognized on repeated occasions by courts which have appointed the firm to major positions in complex multi-district or consolidated litigations.
Milberg Weiss has taken a lead role in numerous important actions on behalf of defrauded investors, and has been responsible for a number of outstanding recoveries which, in the aggregate, total approximately $2 billion. Visit the firm's Web site at milberg.com.
Not only are they rich, they're conceited!
If you are a member of the Class described above, you may, no later than 60 days from today, move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff of the Class, if you so choose. In order to serve as lead plaintiff, however, you must meet certain legal requirements. If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact plaintiff's counsel, William Lerach, Alan Schulman or Darren Robbins of Milberg Weiss at 800/449-4900 or via e-mail at wsl@mwbhl.com.
Call now to join the pyramid scheme!
CONTACT:
Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach
William Lerach, 800/449-4900
wsl@mwbhl.com
Someone contact them and report back to the thread. |
