(Bloomberg) — Investors of Super Micro Computer Inc. waited two months for the company to submit a plan that would allow it to remain listed on the Nasdaq. With the deadline just days away, that plan has yet to become a reality.
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The server maker has until Monday, Nov. 18 to either file a delayed 10-K annual report or submit a plan to file with Nasdaq to comply with the exchange’s rules. Super Micro’s original deadline for submitting the plan was Saturday, November 16, but in accordance with Nasdaq rules, if the last day of the period is a Saturday, Sunday, federal holiday or Nasdaq holiday, the period will run then until the end of the next day. day that is not one of those days.
“As we previously announced, Super Micro intends to take all necessary steps to comply with Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements as quickly as possible,” a Super Micro spokesperson said.
Super Micro postponed its annual filing in August after a damaging report from short seller Hindenburg Research. The company is also facing a U.S. Department of Justice investigation, and its auditor, Ernst & Young LLP, resigned in October over concerns about Super Micro’s governance and transparency.
This week, Super Micro postponed the filing of its quarterly 10-Q form for the period ending September 30. The company also said that the committee formed by the board of directors to review internal controls had completed its investigation in response to Ernst & Young’s concerns, and that while “other work is underway,” it expects that the evaluation will be completed shortly.
“Whatever the results are would probably play a role in whatever their plan is” to hire a new auditor and file their financial reports, Matt Bryson, an analyst at Wedbush, said by phone. “I wouldn’t be shocked if something comes out in the next few days.”
Shares of Super Micro have fallen nearly 70% since announcing it would delay its annual filing in August. The losses are even greater when measured from the stock’s record high in March. During that period, more than $55 billion in value was wiped out, while Super Micro shares fell 85%.
If the company submits a plan that Nasdaq approves, the filing deadline will likely be extended to February. If a plan is not approved, the company can appeal the decision. Nasdaq declined to comment.
The consequences of missing the Nasdaq deadline could be dire. If the company is taken private, it will likely mean it will be removed from the S&P 500 Index, which Super Micro joined this year. The country may also face an early repayment of $1.725 billion in bonds if it is delisted from the Nasdaq stock exchange.
It is not the first time that Super Micro has been delisted from the stock exchange. In 2019, shares were delisted from the Nasdaq stock exchange after the company missed deadlines for filing a 10-K and several quarterly reports.
“I’ve never seen a company go through this problem twice,” Bryson says. “I don’t know how that affects things.”
Super Micro received approval to rejoin the Nasdaq stock exchange in 2020. That same year, the company resolved a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into its accounting by paying a $17.5 million fine. Super Micro has neither admitted nor denied the regulator’s allegations as part of the settlement.
This year’s woes marked a turnaround for the company’s shares, which soared in the first few months of 2024 on the artificial intelligence frenzy and were added to the S&P 500 Index.
In a business update in early November, the company gave a weaker-than-expected outlook, saying it expected revenue of $5.5 billion to $6.1 billion, well below the nearly $6.8 billion that Wall Street had forecast.
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