April 8, 2010
Bernstein Liebhard LLP today announced that it has filed a class action in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada on behalf of purchasers (the “Class”) of Ormat Technologies, Inc. (“Ormat” or the “Company”) (NYSE: ORA) common stock during the period of May 6, 2008 and February 24, 2010, inclusive (the “Class Period”). Defendants are Ormat, Yehudit Bronicki, and Joseph Tenne.
Ormat and its subsidiaries engage in the geothermal and recovered energy power business in the United States and internationally. The Company develops, builds, owns and operates geothermal and recovered energy-based power plants, and sells electricity and equipment for geothermal and recovered energy-based electricity generation.
The complaint alleges Defendants violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Throughout the Class Period, defendants knew or recklessly disregarded that their public statements concerning Ormat’s business, operations and prospects were materially false and misleading. Specifically, defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose: (1) that the Company was improperly continuing to capitalize costs for individual projects after Ormat had decided to abandon further exploration and development of individual projects instead of expensing those costs in the period in which any such determination was made; (2) that, as a result, the Company’s financial results were overstated during the Class Period; (3) that the Company’s financial results were not prepared in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“GAAP”); (4) that the Company lacked adequate internal and financial controls; and (5), as a result of the above, that the Company’s financial statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
On February 24, 2010, Ormat disclosed that the Board of Directors and Audit Committee of the Company, upon recommendation of management, had concluded that the Company’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2008 (the “2008 Financial Statements”) contained in its Annual Report on Form 10-K required restatement and should no longer be relied upon, and additionally, that the Company’s prior related earnings and news releases and similar communications should also no longer be relied on to the extent they related to the 2008 Financial Statements.
The Company also announced that the restatement would show a change in the Company’s accounting treatment for certain exploration and development costs. According to Ormat, these costs were capitalized on an area-of-interest basis using an accounting method that is analogous to the full cost method, and upon review of this accounting treatment in response to comment letters from the Staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Company concluded that this accounting treatment was inappropriate in certain respects. Ormat additionally indicated that the Company planned to revise its consolidated financial statements as of and for the three- and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2009.
As a result of this news, Ormat shares declined $1.28 per share, or nearly 4%, to close on February 24, 2010, at $31.90 per share, and further declined over the following two days to close on February 26, 2010, at $28.93 per share, on heavy trading volume. Over the course of these three days of trading, Ormat shares declined a total of 12.81%, or $4.25 per share.
Plaintiffs seek to recover damages on behalf of all Class members who purchased or otherwise acquired shares of Ormat during the Class Period. If you purchased or otherwise acquired Ormat shares during the Class Period, and either lost money on the transaction or still hold the shares, you may wish to join in the action to serve as lead plaintiff. In order to do so, you must meet certain requirements set forth in the applicable law and file appropriate papers no later than May 10, 2010.
A “lead plaintiff” is a representative party that acts on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. In order to be appointed lead plaintiff, the court must determine that the class member’s claim is typical of the claims of other class members, and that the class member will adequately represent the class. Under certain circumstances, one or more class members may together serve as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery is not, however, affected by the decision whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff. You may retain Bernstein Liebhard LLP, or other counsel of your choice, to serve as your counsel in this action.
Bernstein Liebhard has pursued hundreds of securities and consumer cases and recovered approximately $2 billion for its clients. It has been named to The National Law Journal’s “Plaintiffs’ Hot List” in each of the last seven years.
You can obtain a copy of the complaint here or from the clerk of the court for the United States District Court for the District of Nevada.