Canaan Inc. (CAN) Made Misstatements Regarding its Business Metrics and Financial Prospects
On February 10, 2021, Canaan issued a press release announcing that its “revenue visibility ha[d] improved substantially” and making other positive statements about purported visibility into increases in the size and quality of the orders it had been receiving. In response to these statements, Canaan’s ADR price increased nearly 90% between its opening on Monday, February 8th and closing on February 12th.
Contrary to these statements, Canaan’s significant ongoing supply chain disruptions and the introduction of the Company’s next-generation A12 series bitcoin mining machines, had actually caused the Company’s 4Q20 sales to decline more than 93% year-over-year compared to its third quarter 3Q20 sales. As a result, Canaan’s 4Q20 total net revenues had decreased to RMB38.2 million (US$5.9 million) from RMB463.2 million in the 4Q19 and RMB163.0 million in the 3Q20.
On April 12, 2021, Canaan issued a press release disclosing its actual 4Q20 and FY20 financial results for the period ended December 31, 2020, including a 93% year-over-year decrease in computing power sold and net revenues for the quarter. On this news, Canaan ADRs collapsed nearly 30%.
