Shares of Mosaic Company (MOS) rallied to a new 52-week high today, topping out at $63.83 in intraday action. The stock seems to be enjoying a halo lift after sector peer Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (POT) was upgraded, but the spotlight will turn to Mosaic after today's closing bell, when the company is slated to unveil its fiscal second-quarter earnings.

Mosaic's performance on the earnings front has been mixed, with the fertilizer firm falling short of analysts' consensus expectations during three of the past four reporting periods. Ahead of tonight's release, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are expecting a second-quarter profit of 35 cents per share, on average, down from Mosaic's year-ago profit of $1.12 per share. Sales are expected to ring in at $1.68 billion.

Continue reading Shorts Hedge Their Bets Ahead of Mosaic's 2Q Earnings

Shorts Hedge Their Bets Ahead of Mosaic's 2Q Earnings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 05 Jan 2010 17:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

News of the lucrative investment has propelled EP to a gain of 1.7%, despite a downside bias in the broader equities market. The shares are positioned above support at their 10-week and 20-week moving averages, but potential resistance lies overhead in the $11 region. This area previously capped the stock's rally attempt in mid-June.

Continue reading El Paso scores $700M pipeline investment

El Paso scores $700M pipeline investment originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE: CY) joined the parade of companies reporting their latest quarterly results today. The firm swallowed a second-quarter loss of $45.3 million, or 32 cents per share. Excluding items, CY recorded a net loss of just 3 cents per share, besting analysts' consensus expectations for a loss of 9 cents per share. Revenue also came in better than expected, arriving at $155.8 million, compared to Wall Street's forecast of $152.0 million.

In the wake of this upside surprise, CY surged to a new multi-decade high of $9.83 early in today's session. It seems that bearish bettors were caught off-guard by the stronger-than-expected results; during the 10 days leading up to the report, option traders on the International Securities Exchange (ISE) bought to open 6.75 times more puts than calls on CY. Speculative investors on the ISE have purchased the stock's puts over calls at faster pace just 3% of the time.

Continue reading Cypress Semiconductor hits multi-year high after earnings

Cypress Semiconductor hits multi-year high after earnings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Fastenal Company (NASDAQ: FAST) fell short of Wall Street's second-quarter earnings expectations, with the industrial supply firm confessing to a 43% slide in net profit for the period. Specifically, FAST raked in earnings of $43.5 million, or 29 cents per share, while revenue dwindled 21% to $474.9 million. Analysts were looking for a more robust quarterly profit of 33 cents per share on $487 million in revenue.

"As we saw in the previous two quarters, the weakened economy continues to have a substantial impact on our business," reported Fastenal in a press release. "These impacts continue to negatively affect our sales, particularly related to our industrial production business . . . and, more recently, our non-residential construction business."

Continue reading Fastenal stumbles after 2Q earnings miss

Fastenal stumbles after 2Q earnings miss originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.