After spiking in mid-May, NQ Mobile (ADR) (NYSE:NQ) stock has fallen below $7 a share. Investors are undoubtedly wondering when the Chinese company’s next financial report will be out and what it will say. NQ has delayed its release twice, signaling that there could be some big problems with it.
What does Wall Street think of NQ Mobile?
Muddy Waters targeted NQ Mobile late last year, accusing the company of fraudulent accounting practices. Wall Street may have noticed though that nearly 60 days—56, to be exact—have gone by since the Chinese company originally said it would release its annual report. NQ Mobile has provided no real reason for delaying the report. The longer the company goes without releasing that report, the more hot water it could find itself in.
A Seeking Alpha contributor says the delay could only be because there is something going behind the scenes. Indeed, this is what Muddy Waters’ founder Carson Block said after the last time the company delayed the release of the report.
NQ Mobile says it’s investigating
In its regulatory filings, NQ Mobile said it was not able to file its annual report on time because it is investigating the allegations made by Block and his firm. The company added that it will file its report for the year that ended Dec. 31, 2013 “as soon as possible.”
Seeking Alpha contributor Quoth the Raven questions why shares of NQ Mobile have been trending downward rather than upward in anticipation of a clean report. The writer is skeptical that the company will return a clean report but explains the technical reasons for why Wall Street seems to be starting to worry.
Wall Street smells something in NQ Mobile
The writer says NQ Mobile’s stock chart indicates that investors must think “something is rotten” in the Chinese company’s finances. In other words, they’re becoming increasingly skeptical about the company. The initial skepticism was probably triggered by the original report from Muddy Waters.
When NQ Mobile returned the results of its internal investigation, it said there was no evidence of any problems. However, the committee also found that there was some information missing and said that management couldn’t explain why there was information missing. This suggests that at the very least, the company is very unorganized and management is uninformed about what goes on.
And then there’s the fact that the company itself said in its fourth quarter report that it found “an accounting overstatement relating to share based compensation expense” in its third quarter results. As a result, the company has to revise its financial statements. It certainly doesn’t help matters any that NQ Mobile continues to be apparently unable to produce its annual report for 2013.
