If healthcare stock Cutera’s (NASDAQ:CUTR) story is starting to look like something you might watch weeknights on the CW, there’s a reason. Not only has it made some serious C-suite shakeups, but it’s also removed a critical portion of financial information that investors count on for making decisions. All of these factors together sent Cutera on a crash course that cost it over 26% of its share price in Wednesday afternoon’s trading alone.
Cutera, earlier today, fired current CEO David Mowry and immediately replaced him with Sheila Hopkins, a board member, to serve as interim CEO. Also, Cutera’s board ditched Daniel Plants as the current executive chairman of the board and replaced him as well, this time bringing in board member Janet Widmann to serve as independent Chair. Statements from Cutera noted that the decision was reached after “…unanimous recommendations from a special committee consisting of all members of the board’s Governance and Corporate Responsibility Committee.”
It gets better, though; the call to pull Mowry started back in 2022 when Plants recommended Mowry’s termination and offered himself as a replacement for Mowry. Worse for investors, however, was Cutera’s move to withdraw its 2023 guidance. Apparently, Cutera pulled the guidance largely in connection to the ouster of Mowry and Plants. It’s unclear whether or not new guidance will be offered up.
Analysts, meanwhile, were split on Cutera stock before this mess emerged. It’s considered a Moderate Buy by analyst consensus, thanks to two Buy ratings and two Holds. However, thanks to Cutera’s average price target of $45.50, it comes with 128.76% upside potential.
