By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Standard Lithium stock (NYSE:SLI) dropped more than 27% Thursday after Hindenburg Research released a short report questioning the company's direct-lithium-extraction (DLE) technology and overall story.
The stock touched a low of $5.82 in the session that’s currently underway and was just above $6/share as of publication.
Hindenburg said Standard has "no revenue, unproven technology, and a team stacked with seasoned stock promoters".
In a detailed report posted on its website, Hindenburg leveled serious allegations against the company and its CEO Robert Mintak. According to the short seller, Mintak has been involved with at least nine publicly traded companies.
“On average, shares of these companies have fallen ~97%. Of the 9 companies, 5 have been delisted, several have faced regulatory scrutiny, none operate profitably, and at least 8 used paid stock promotion,” it said.
Hindenburg alleges that since going public in July 2021, the company has spent over C$5 million (around $4M) on “advertising and investor relations” compared to about C$1.7 million on R&D. In financial year 2021, its R&D budget dropped to zero, Hindenburg claimed.
“We show that Standard’s executives and board also have ties to companies whose stocks spiked on the back of paid stock promotion before ultimately plummeting,” it said.
Standard Lithium issued a press release in response, calling the report false and misleading, and alleging that Hindenburg's R&D calculations omit, "the CDN $ 29,409,930 spent on the various pilot and demonstration plants that has been capitalized, (and) the CDN $ 6,932,598 spent on operating expenses at our pilot and demonstration plant." The shares ended the day at $5.29, the lowest close since August 2021.
Hindenburg Research has produced a number of short reports over the last few years, including cases against Nikola, Clover, Lordstown Motors, and Technoglass.
(This article was originally published at 11:53am ET, and updated with the company's response at 4pm ET and the final price movement).