A lawyers firm has filed a fraud class action suit on behalf of Nvidia Corp. shareholders who purchased common stock of the company during the timeframe when the company failed to disclose that it had issues with failure rate of graphics processing units (GPUs) and chipsets.

Shalov Stone Bonner & Rocco LLP has filed a securities fraud class action on behalf of all investors who purchased or otherwise acquired the common stock of Nvidia, between November 8, 2007, and July 2, 2008, inclusive (class period). The lawsuit is pending in the United States district court for the northern district of California and names as defendants Nvidia, chief executive of Jen-Hsun Huang as well as chief financial officer Marvin Burkett. 

According to the complaint, the defendants violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Specifically, the complaint alleges that, during the class period, Nvidia issued a series of misrepresentations and omissions that actively concealed and failed to disclose the unusually high failure rates of Nvidia mobile video adapters and the impact of these defects on the company?s financial condition and results and future business prospects.

When the company belatedly revealed this information on July 2, 2008, Nvidia's stock plummeted, and the company's market capitalization was promptly reduced by over $3 billion. Back in September, 2007, the company's stock cost $39.67, whereas in early November, 2007, when Nvidia unveiled its quarterly results, the stock cost approximately the same amount of money. However, at press time the firm's stock price was $10.93, or nearly three times less than a year ago.

Plaintiffs claim that Nvidia as well as its CEO and CFO knew about the issues with unusually high failure rates of its GPUs and chipsets in early November, but did not disclose this information to all of its investors. The lawyers firm cites Michael Hara, vice president of investor relations at Nvidia as admitting that the company had issues with unprecedented high failure rates that the company noticed first back in August, 2007.

"We have been working on this problem with the customers for well over a year going all the way back to August of last year," Mr. Hara is reported to have said.

To join the class action at this time, investors have to review the complaint and complete the certification form.

Tags: Nvidia, Failures, Lawsuit, Geforce, Nforce