Monday, April 2, 2012

Groupon (Nasdaq: GRPN) Sinks 13% on 4Q Restatement

Groupon (Nasdaq: GRPN) Sinks 13% on 4Q RestatementNorthern, WI 4/2/12 (StreetBeat) -- Shares of Groupon (Nasdaq: GRPN) retreated 13% Monday morning as Wall Street expresses displeasure at the daily deals company’s latest accounting headache.

Late Friday, Chicago-based Groupon, which went public last year, said it needs to slash its fourth-quarter revenue outlook and deepen its net loss view due to higher-than-expected refunds.

Groupon, which has publicly clashed with the Securities and Exchange Commission over its financial metrics in the past, also disclosed it has a “material weakness” in internal controls over its financial statements.

In the wake of those announcements, a slew of shareholder-rights lawyers announced investigations into Groupon and some analysts released negative research notes.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch (NYSE: BAC) downgraded Groupon to “neutral” from “buy,” while Stifel Nicolaus cut the stock to “sell” from “hold.” Evercore Partners trimmed its price target to $20 from $28, maintaining an “equal weight” rating.

Groupon had to lower its quarterly revenue by $14.3 million and its operating income by $30 million.

Shares of Groupon dropped 13% to $15.99 Monday morning, putting them on pace to add to their 2012 slide of 11%.

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