Cloudera, Inc. (CLDR) Accused of Inflating Stock Price
According to the complaint against the company for alleged violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 between April 28, 2017 and June 5, 2019, Cloudera, Inc. (CLDR) went public in an initial public offering in April 2017 for $258 million in gross proceeds. The company’s registration documents highlighted its rapid historical growth and potential for positive cash flow and profit. However, the company failed to disclose how its technology had become increasingly dated, and was being surpassed by competitors that offered a more fully integrated product. In April 2018, Cloudera provided a disappointing outlook for fiscal year 2019 and revealed a sharp slowdown in its new expansion bookings. On this news, Cloudera’s stock price fell 40%. In January 2019, Cloudera acquired Hortonworks. Shortly thereafter, Cloudera revealed that the merger would reduce 2020 cash flows by $125 million. On this news, Cloudera’s stock price fell almost 20%. In June 2019, Cloudera announced CEO Tom Reilly’s abrupt retirement as analysts discussed the abandoning of Cloudera’s Hadoop-based platform as obsolete. On this news, Cloudera’s stock fell 40% to close at $5.21 per share.
