Nasdaq May Halt Trading of Taser Shares After Filing Delay

Taser International Inc. said Friday that the Nasdaq Stock Market might stop trading its shares because the company had failed to file its third-quarter earnings report with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Its shares fell 12%.

Taser, the world’s largest maker of stun guns, plans to request a hearing before a Nasdaq panel to appeal the decision. Filing an appeal stops the delisting process until a ruling is made, Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Taser said. The company will file the quarterly report “as soon as possible,” a spokesman said.

The report for the quarter that ended Sept. 30 has been delayed pending the completion of a restatement of financial results for the two previous periods because legal fees and other expenses were recorded in the wrong quarter.

Taser’s shares had tumbled 77% this year before Friday amid concern about the safety of its stun guns and an SEC accounting investigation.

Taser shares fell 90 cents to $6.50. Nasdaq changed Taser’s ticker to TASRE, with the E indicating noncompliance with SEC reporting rules.

The company said Oct. 26 that net income plunged 96% in the third quarter as safety questions hurt sales of the weapons. Revenue fell 38% from a year earlier to $11.7 million.

Tasers incapacitate people by delivering 50,000 volts of electricity through two barbs. Human rights group Amnesty International has said that at least 129 deaths have been related to the guns. Taser says its devices are safe alternatives to the use of deadly force.