Friday, February 7, 2014

NQ Mobile Clawing Back Gains

Chinese Internet service provider NQ Mobile Inc. (NYSE: NQ) was attacked by short selling firm Muddy Waters LLC in late October and the company's share price tumbled from a 52-week high of $25.90 to less than $9.00. The company has been clawing its way back up ever since, and got another boost on Friday after independent equity analysis firm Wedge Partners tweeted that NQ Mobile has been able to restore the company's games to the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) App Store.

Since the Muddy Waters report was challenged, NQ Mobile has done a deal with Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) that will have Sprint use NQ Mobile's services technology on all the Android-based phones that Sprint sells.

That wasn't the only deal that helped pull NQ Mobile out of the pit it was in, but it was one of the biggest. Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) acquired a 5.2% stake in the Chinese company it helped raise $173 million for in a convertible bond sale in early October. And last month, NQ Mobile gaming subsidiary FL Mobile, signed an agreement with French video game developer Ubisoft under which the Chinese company will exclusively offer one of Ubisoft's games for Android-based smartphones in China.

NQ Mobile stock has climbed back from a share price of $8.80 to a post-Muddy Waters high of almost $18. That's still nearly $8 a share below the stock's 52-week high but represents a solid move in just a little over 3 months. The shares are trading at $17.25 in the mid-afternoon Friday in a 52-week range of $6.15 to $25.90. On an average day about 4 million shares change hands, but so far today trading has been less than half that amount.

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