Lawsuit Overview
August 23, 2016 - The case was remanded to state court.
February 5, 2016 (Shareholders Foundation) - An investor in Natera Inc (NASDAQ:NTRA) filed a lawsuit in California over alleged violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1933 against the Company, the sponsors of the initial public offering, and certain of the Company’s officers.
Natera Inc' s primary product is Panorama, a non-invasive prenatal test ( NIPT ), launched in March 2013, which the Company claims is the most accurate NIPT commercially available, in the United States.
The plaintiff alleges that Natera’s Registration Statement, filed in connection with the July 2, 2015 initial public offering (“IPO”), contained allegedly misleading information and/or allegedly omitted material information that presented a positive outlook for Natera’s business, performance, prospects and products, while omitting significant facts and known trends that had already unfavorably impacted Natera’s revenues and net losses at the time of the IPO.
More specifically, the plaintiff claims that the offering for the IPO allegedly materially falsely and misleadingly represented the state of Natera's business, including that Natera had experienced a nearly 20 million net loss in the Company's second quarter 2015 which had ended before the IPO and which loss exceed any other quarterly loss the Company had suffered by as much as 3700% since at least second quarter 2013 when Panorama was released.
The plaintiff alleges that Panorama tests accessioned in which revenue was recognized had already flat-lined at 28,000+ tests, and that the percent of Panorama tests accessioned in which revenue was recognized in the same quarter had dramatically declined to a mere 47%, far below the percentage in prior quarters, indicating bleak prospects for the Company's principal product — far from what was portrayed in the Registration Statement and roadshow for the offering.
NASDAQ:NTRA shares reached as high as $24.36 per share in the open market on the day of the IPO and have since then declined to as low as $6.52 per share on February 8, 2016.
Natera Inc reported that its annual Total Revenue rose from $55.17 million in 2013 to $159.29 million in 2014 and that its Net Loss declined from $37.11 million in 2013 to $5.15 million in 2014.