In re Atkore Inc. Securities Litigation

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Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP (“BLB&G”) represents lead plaintiff Nykredit Portefølje Administration A/S (“Nykredit”) in this securities class action brought on behalf of investors that purchased common stock of Atkore, Inc. (“Atkore” or the “Company”) during the Class Period. The action asserts claims against Atkore and certain of its current and former executives for violations of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Based in Harvey, Illinois, Atkore manufactures electrical, safety, and infrastructure products, including water pipes and electrical conduit pipes made of polyvinyl chloride (“PVC”). During the Covid-19 pandemic, high shipping costs prevented foreign PVC pipe manufacturers from profitably selling their products in the United States. Taking advantage of this, Atkore and other U.S.-based PVC pipe manufacturers increased their prices for PVC pipe, which led to record profits for Atkore and other manufacturers.

Unknown to the public, however, after the pandemic’s end, Defendants are alleged to have engaged in anti-competitive pricing behavior to artificially inflate prices for PVC pipes in order to continue reporting the elevated profits they had reaped during the pandemic. Investors allege that Atkore did this by coordinating pricing with other major PVC pipe manufacturers via signals communicated through an industry report published by a subscription-based commodity pricing service called Oil Price Information Service, LLC (“OPIS”). Throughout the Class Period, among other false and misleading statements, Defendants misleadingly attributed “the sustainability of [Atkore’s] profit” to its “Amazon experience of one order, one delivery, one invoice” sales model, misleadingly stated that they “don’t talk” to their “competitors,” and misleadingly asserted that “the biggest thing that controls [Atkore’s] profit is just supply/demand in the market.”

The truth emerged gradually through a series of partial corrective disclosures beginning on May 7, 2024, when the Company unexpectedly cut its 2024 EBITDA guidance by $50 million, leading the price of Atkore common stock to fall $22.06 per share, or 12.5%. The truth continued to emerge on July 24, 2024, when a market research firm published a report accusing Atkore and other PVC pipe manufacturers, including Otter Tail, of using OPIS to coordinate pricing actions, thereby fixing PVC pipe prices at “massively inflated” levels that “defy economic logic.” On this news—as well as the contemporaneous news of the unexpected departure of the Company’s CFO—the price of Atkore common stock fell another $12.37 per share, or 8.5%.

Defendants dismissed this report as “unsubstantiated from the conclusions it tries to make,” but Atkore was soon after named as a defendant in multiple civil antitrust lawsuits. Once Atkore’s collusion with competitors on pricing was partially exposed, Atkore’s financial performance suffered—but Defendants continued to mislead the market by attributing Atkore’s decreased performance to “various competitive dynamics, including new domestic competition and continued impacts from imported products.”   

The truth about the unsustainability of Atkore’s performance continued to emerge on August 6, 2024, when Atkore’s earnings release for the fiscal third quarter of 2024 revealed “softer than expected” pricing for the Company’s “PVC conduit business.” On this news, the price of Atkore common stock fell $17.41 per share, or nearly 15%. Between November 7-8, 2024, Atkore PVC competitor Otter Tail disclosed that it had received a Department of Justice subpoena, and RBC hosted an investor call featuring an antitrust expert law professor, who detailed potential risks to Atkore. On this news, the price of Atkore common stock fell again, by $7.39 per share, or 7.2%.

These truth was further disclosed on February 4, 2025, when Atkore significantly reduced guidance for future earnings, attributing “roughly $75 million or 3/4 of” the guidance cut to “the PVC side.” As a result of this disclosure, the price of Atkore common stock fell $15.59 per share, or nearly 20%. Subsequently, on February 14, 2025, Atkore revealed that the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice had served the Company with a subpoena for documents related to PVC pipe pricing, which led the price of Atkore common stock to fall an additional $2.32 per share, or 3.2%. Finally, the truth was fully revealed on August 5, 2025, when Atkore again announced disappointing margins “due to pricing declines related to [its] PVC” products, again cut earnings guidance because of further “headwinds” due to lower PVC pricing, and announced the departure of its long-serving CEO. On this news, the price of Atkore common stock fell a further $20.16 per share, or over 26%.

Case Status:

On May 30, 2025, the court appointed Nykredit lead plaintiff and BLB&G lead counsel. Lead plaintiff filed its amended complaint on August 22, 2025.