Citron's Andrew Left Responds To Valeant's Declarations About His Report: 'I Put Out Information That Turned Out To Be True'

  • Citron Research's executive editor Andrew Left appeared on CNBC on Monday, talking about Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc VRX.

"Valeant calls your accusations – in their words ‘sensational, false and misleading, like yelling fire in a crowded in a crowded theater.’ That you've been trying to crush the stock for your own personal gain. How do you respond to that?" asked CNBC's Scott Wapner.

"First of all, I'm not yelling fire in a crowded theater," Left responded, citing Goldman Sachs' report issued on Monday. When the firm says "there's too much heat around this company to make it investable, and there's going to be some overhang on it, they've actually vetted the process I've gone through; which is saying, there's something really wrong here," he assured.

Related Link: Citron Research Says It Will Not 'Dial Back Warnings' Regarding Valeant

The anchor then asked Left if he had been playing the fears of investors. To this, Left answered," I put out information that turned out to be true in four days," adding that he got lucky, since it sometimes takes years to clarify these sorts of situations.

Don't Demonize The Short-Seller

Even if there was some "monkey business" with Philidor (which accounts for 6 percent of Valeant’s revenues), how does this make put Valeant in an Enron-like situation?

Left explained this pretty clearly, continuing to say people should "understand the bull case on it. It's completely contingent upon organic growth."

"And also, most importantly (…) don’t forget the whole Valeant controversy did not start with me (…) It started with the Senator Bernie Sanders requesting information about price gouging in the United States (…) So let’s keep everything in perspective about the investability of Valeant."

To conclude, Left highlighted people shouldn't assume he's the reason why the stock was down both in the first place and again on Friday.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any of the securities mentioned above.

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Posted In: BiotechCNBCShort IdeasHealth CareMediaTrading IdeasGeneralAndrew LeftCitron ResearchPhilidor
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