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Update 1:20pm: Adds Mizuho defending FMC.
FMC Corp. (NYSE:FMC) dropped 8% amid a new short call from Blue Orca.
Blue Orca writes in its short report that it’s shorting the agricultural chemical manufacturer due to potential issues with its patents and the likelihood of generic competition.
FMC (FMC) said the Blue Orca short report contains “misleading and factually inaccurate” statements about FMC’s patents for diamide insecticide technology and “innacurately speculated” on the strenght of FMC’s business.
“The company has consistently disclosed material developments in diamide litigation in SEC filings,” FMC said in a statement on Thursday. “The Blue Orca report contains quotes and information that have been taken out of context, are factually incorrect or do not reflect the multiple dimensions of the FMC diamide growth strategy.”
A Mizuho analyst on Thursday came out in defense of FMC (FMC) saying that “FMC’s decline is a material ovvereaction to misleading content.”
“It’s grossly misleading to suggest that challenges to IP or an active is anything new – and in this case, FMC has been successfully defending diamides’ IP for a decade (plus) – this includes a plethora of cases in China and India, which from an industry perspecticve are ofthe the `most difficult’ juridisctions to defend IP,” Mizuho analyst Christopher Parkinson, who has a buy rating and $122 price target on FMC, wrote in a note.
FMC’s short interest is 1.7%.
