Shares in titanium and critical minerals company IperionX Ltd (ASX: IPX) have been placed in a trading halt after a US investment firm launched a short attack against the company.
Spruce Point Management published a report overnight, making a series of allegations against IperionX, including that the company's ambitions to become part of an onshore US titanium-producing industry were overblown.
As Spruce said in the publicly available report:
After conducting a forensic review of IperionX Ltd and its ambitions of becoming a vertically integrated producer (mining to production) of titanium powders and products, we believe that investor expectations are too high, and it faces significant challenges in commercial efforts that may not be fully reflected in its valuation. We also express concerns with the accuracy of its financial reporting.
Spruce said they applauded the company's desire to "reshore the US titanium supply chain with a lower cost and more environmentally friendly production process and think management is competent and capable".
However, we do not believe the end markets to be attractive or that its highly promoted HAMR process is likely to 'revolutionise' the industry or displace the 70-year established Kroll process. As such, we question IperionX's economic rationale for expanding capacity when it has few customer contracts and no historical revenue.
Spruce said, based on its calculations, IperionX shares were very overvalued, and there was a potential downside of 70% to 95%.
IperionX shares were placed in a trading halt at the company's request on Thursday, while it formulates a response to the Spruce report. The company's shares are expected to remain halted until as late as Monday morning.
IperionX shares have more than doubled over the past year, changing hands for $5.61 at the close on Wednesday. This is well below the 12-month high for the shares, at $9.20.
Production outlook positive
The company said in its recent quarterly update that it was scaling titanium capacity to 1400 tonnes per year, "with commissioning planned for mid-2027 positioning IperionX to be America's largest and lowest-cost titanium powder producer".
The company said it had the capacity to manufacture a wide range of titanium products for its customers, and "all planned major manufacturing equipment is online and operational, for both titanium powder production and component manufacturing at the titanium manufacturing campus in Virginia".
The company also said it had US$79.2 million in cash at the end of the quarter.
IperionX is also listed on the Nasdaq exchange in the US. The company's Australian-listed shares are worth $1.88 billion.
