Inogen sinks 5% after Citron claims elder abuse, puts $46 target on shares

Citron Research, in a research note posted on its website, contends that Inogen "has conspired with the reseller network to dominate Google listings and used tactics to deceive the sick elderly." Further, the short-selling research firm claims to expose that the "top reseller of Inogen products is secretly controlled by a convicted felon who was recently released after 5 years in federal prison for deceptive internet marketing practices." The firm explained, "Through a 4 month investigation and numerous conversations with Inogen reps, Citron believes that these multiple sales reps steer Medicare patients away from enforcing their benefits through evasive and deceptive tactics ." How can a company who sells portable oxygen concentrators to the elderly only get a mid-single digit percentage of its sales from Medicare, Citron asks. "By pushing a carefully crafted pitch to distributors that is both unethical and often illegal and is designed to deceive the sick and elderly," it answers. The firm put a $46 price target on shares of Inogen. Carson Block's Muddy Waters Research, in a new report on its website last week, said it was short Inogen because it believes management has "created an egregiously false narrative about the Total Addressable Market size and growth." The firm also put a $46 downside target on Inogen. The shares in morning trading are down 5%, or $6.82, to $135.38. Reference Link