SunPower Hit With Another Suit

SAN JOSE, Calif. (TheStreet)-- SunPower(SPWRA Quote) has been hit with yet another class action suit in the wake of revelations that there were accounting issues in its Phillipines-based operations that could lead to a restatement of its earnings.

Whether the latest in what is becoming a long line of suits has any impact on SunPower's stock price, however, seems debatable -- at least based on the stock's trading pattern this week.

In reality, the class-action suits -- today's was the latest in a half dozen class-actions that materialized quickly after Nov. 16 like a flock of crows hovering over fresh roadkill -- have shown little additional negative impact on the shares.

News of the accounting problems and the potential need for restatement of earnings first hit on Nov. 16, and SunPower shares immediately plummeted 20%. SunPower's stock price has shed close to $7 from a mid-month high of $27.23. SunPower has been trading near its 52-week low all week, and today was no different.

SunPower's stock price was at $20.73 at today's close, but was at a similar level the day after the new first broke. The stock has not recovered for sure, and this week has been a tough one so far for SunPower, too. Shares were down 0.5% after the latest class-action suit was filed in the afternoon, but shares had been slightly negative all day Wednesday.

With the risk already priced into SunPower's shares, D-Day for the company and its investors will come mid-December, when management expects to provide analysts and investors with a full mea culpa on the accounting issues and its plans to remedy the situation. The fact that the accounting mistakes -- related to expenses -- could cause a restatement of earnings over the past two quarters, will most likely cause the stock to remain near its 52-week low until management provides a blow-by-blow account of what went wrong and why.