MP - MP Materials plunges on short call from Bonitas Research

MP Materials (MP -5.8%) tumbles to a three-month low at the open after short seller Bonitas Research accuses the company of executing an "abusive transfer price manipulation scheme" with a Chinese partner. Chinese state-owned rare earths metals producer Shenghe owns 8% of MP shares and has rights to production from MP's Mountain Pass mine in California. Bonitas believes since Q2 2021, MP and Shenghe "executed an abusive transfer price manipulation scheme whereby Shenghe overpaid for MP concentrates to artificially inflate MP's profits, [which] conveniently coincided with the SPAC insider lock-up expiration so that MP insiders could sell MP stock at artificially inflated prices." MP Materials "remains an underrated EV investment," Sandis Weil writes in a bullish analysis published on Seeking Alpha.

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MP Materials plunges on short call from Bonitas Research