A class action has been filed against Tempur-Pedic International, Inc. (TPX), certain of its officers and directors by stockholders who purchased the company's common stock between April 22, 2005 and September 19, 2005. The action claims that the defendants violated federal securities laws by issuing a series of material misrepresentations to the market over this time period, thereby artificially inflating the price of the company's securities. The stockholders seek to recover compensatory damages for the loss of value of their stock.
According to a press release dated October 7, 2005, the Complaint alleges that by the beginning of the Class Period investors became concerned that well-heeled competitors, such as Sealy, Serta and Simmons, were making significant inroads into the visco-elastic market that could challenge Tempur-Pedic's dominance or, at the very least, erode its profits if it was forced to slash prices in order to compete. Defendants allayed these concerns by misrepresenting that its business was not suffering from the effects of competition and would continue to grow strongly. Well into the Class Period, defendants reiterated aggressive sales and earnings guidance for 2005, even after the Company had begun to experience a slowdown. Defendants' Class Period representations were materially false and misleading when made because they failed to disclose that: (a) demand for Tempur-Pedic's products was slowing as competitors were gaining a foothold in the visco-elastic market; (b) defendants' repeated express assurances that the competition was not having a materially negative, or any, impact on the Company, even in response to express concerns raised by analysts, were untrue and provided false comfort to investors while inflating the price of Tempur-Pedic stock so insiders could sell their shares; and (c) in light of increasing competition that was already having a noticeable effect on the Company's business, defendants' guidance, reiterated on July 21, 2005, lacked any reasonable basis.
Defendants were motivated to commit the wrongdoing alleged herein in order to sell their personally held Tempur-Pedic stock at artificially inflated prices. During the Class Period, insiders and entities associated with insiders, sold a total of 5,620,591 shares of Tempur-Pedic common stock at artificially inflated prices, for proceeds of $131,910,207. Of that amount, $124,550,000 was sold by TA Associates, a controlling shareholder that has two nominee directors on Tempur-Pedic's board of directors.
The Complaint further alleges that on or around September 19, 2005, Tempur-Pedic issued lower guidance for 2005, which it attributed to a number of factors, including competition that it had said was not and would not have a negative impact, at least not one large enough to cause it to lower its 2005 guidance, which was reiterated less than a month before this announcement.
In response to this announcement, the price of Tempur-Pedic common stock plummeted, falling 28.5% in one day, to $11.70 per share on July 20, 2005 from $16.38 per share on July 19, 2005, on unusually heavy trading volume.
If you bought Tempur-Pedic International, Inc. securities between April 22, 2005 and September 19, 2005, inclusive, and would like to obtain information about the Tempur-Pedic International, Inc. lawsuit, then you are invited to call (866) 467-1400 to speak with an attorney.