Nasdaq Halts Trading in Coyote Network

Trading was halted Thursday in Coyote Network Systems Inc. stock, a day after a financial Internet site wrote a story saying it couldn’t find the company’s biggest customer.

Shares of Westlake Village-based Coyote sank 45% on Wednesday, to $7.81, after TheStreet.com published an article detailing its unsuccessful attempt to locate Crescent Communications Inc., which it said accounted for 75% of Coyote’s fiscal second-quarter sales, as well as Crecent’s chairman, Gene Curcio.

In a pair of news releases, Coyote said the story was “potentially misleading.” It said it sold equipment to Comdisco Inc. for $12 million that Comdisco is leasing to Crescent.

In a follow-up story Thursday, TheStreet.com wrote that Coyote “did not clarify questions” raised by its earlier article. The Web site also wrote that it spoke to Curcio on Thursday, but said the conversation “raised still more questions than it answered.”

Coyote stock was halted by the Nasdaq Stock Market. On a portion of its Web site that lists generic explanations for stock halts, Nasdaq said trading was stopped because it is “in communication with” Coyote to determine whether its news release “is complete and accurate.”