NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Shares of Huron Consulting Group Inc. (HURN) plummeted to an all-time low Monday after the company late Friday made a myriad of negative announcements, including that its chairman and chief executive has stepped down as the company will be restating the last three years of financial results.
At least four firms have cut their stock-investment ratings on the provider of financial and legal consulting services, which said its chief financial officer and accounting chief also are departing the company.
Also, Huron withdrew its 2009 earnings guidance and lowered its outlook for 2009 revenue.
Shares of Huron were recently down more than 74% at $11.30, a price the stock hasn't traded below since the company went public in 2004.
The restatement will cover 2006, 2007 and 2008, as well as the first quarter of 2009, and will cut $57 million from Huron's income over that time period.
The restatement appears to be related to how employee compensation was accounted for in connection with four acquisitions Huron made between 2005 and 2007.
Several analysts expressed frustration with Huron's lack of clarity since its announcement on Friday.
Analysts at William Blair, who cut their rating on Huron to market perform from outperform, said management isn't responding to questions from shareholders or analysts.
"Management's lack of communication with the Street surrounding this news makes it impossible for us to fully understand what has happened with the accounting or with recent business trends," the analysts wrote.
The analysts said that given Huron's relatively high amount of debt, it isn't implausible the company will languish for an extended period of time, "or eventually unravel."
Baird cut its rating on Huron to underperform from neutral, as the firm said it no longer has confidence in its 2010 estimates on Huron.
"We believe there are legitimate worries about HURN being a going concern, but cannot reasonably quantify the risk," the analysts wrote.
A representative from the company couldn't be immediately reached for comment.
