In a statement Wednesday evening, the payments company said a report by U.S.-based short seller Spruce Point is “intentionally misleading and draws inaccurate conclusions, innuendo and character attacks on key executives.” (The Logic)

Talking point: Nuvei’s defence helped send its shares higher Thursday to close up more than six per cent, giving the company some relief after its stock plummeted Wednesday. In its report, Spruce Point raised concerns about the company’s leadership and questioned its transparency around its financial disclosures, among other things. Some analysts brushed off the report’s allegations, arguing that the revelations didn’t change their core thesis on stock. Still, CIBC analysts Todd Coupland and Valery Heckel said in a research note that investor questions and ESG issues around Nuvei are likely to persist, and lowered their price target for the stock by more than half, from US$160 to US$76. Nuvei is the second Montreal-based technology company to be targeted in recent months by Spruce Point, which has argued that Canadian analysts don’t scrutinize the companies they cover closely enough.