Shares of Exide Technologies (NASDAQ: XIDE) were the big losers yesterday. The stock price fell about 48%, and trading in the shares was halted for five minutes in the middle of the afternoon. The cause appears to have been a report that the company had hired a consulting firm to advise it on restructuring.
The company released a statement after markets closed announcing that it had indeed hired Lazard to “advise the company on financing alternatives to maximize the value of the company for all stakeholders.” The firm also raised its forecast for free cash flow:
[Exide] expects that fiscal 2013 fourth quarter free cash flow will be approximately $50 million, exceeding prior guidance of $30 million, with total liquidity (cash and availability under credit lines) at March 31, 2013 of greater than $230 million.
Exide lost its contract as a supplier of car batteries to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) in 2010, and shares have tumbled from around $12 to around $2.50 since then as the firm has struggled to replace the lost business.
But yesterday’s catastrophe is a good example of investors pulling the trigger before they have really identified the target. Exide’s shares are up about 35% in premarket trading this morning at $1.85, after posting a new 52-week low yesterday of $1.16. The 52-week high is $3.77.
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