short sellers posts
FeedPosted Feb 15th 2011 12:00PM by Elizabeth Harrow (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings Reports, Technical Analysis, ValueClick Inc (VCLK)
Online marketing specialist ValueClick (VCLK) is scheduled to unveil its fourth-quarter earnings after Tuesday's closing bell. Ahead of the announcement, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are anticipating a profit of 23 cents per share, on average, which would represent an improvement over ValueClick's year-ago earnings of 18 cents per share.
ValueClick has a strong history in the earnings spotlight, having surpassed analysts' bottom-line expectations in each of the past four quarters. However, a quick scan of the stock's sentiment backdrop reveals a nearly palpable pessimism among both traders and analysts.
Continue reading ValueClick Earnings Preview
Posted Dec 23rd 2010 12:40PM by Elizabeth Harrow (RSS feed)
Filed under: Law, Technical Analysis, Garmin Ltd (GRMN)
Thursday morning, GPS specialist Garmin Ltd. (GRMN) said it lost a patent dispute with Japanese firm Pioneer Corp. The District Court of Dusseldorf in Germany found that two patents owned by Pioneer were infringed by a certain functionality in Garmin's software.
However, Garmin says it has already worked out "minor software revisions that eliminate the narrow functionality at issue in the litigation." As a result, the company doesn't expect any significant impact on its ability to import and sell its navigational products.
Continue reading Garmin Slumps After Patent Defeat
Posted Dec 21st 2010 1:00PM by Elizabeth Harrow (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst Reports, Netflix, Inc. (NFLX), Options, Technical Analysis
Shares of Netflix (NFLX) started Tuesday on a high note, with the shares gaining more than 1% out of the gate. Traders appear to be responding to new comments from Jim Cramer, after the host of CNBC's Mad Money offered an upbeat opinion on the stock Monday.
Specifically, Cramer is enthusiastic about Netflix's push into streaming content, and he has high expectations for future subscriber growth. The analyst also argued that the stock's valuation is actually quite reasonable, when measured against the company's long-term growth rate. For traders looking to take part in continued gains by NFLX, Cramer suggested in-the-money call options.
Continue reading Netflix Gains Ground on Cramer Recommendation
Posted Dec 20th 2010 1:00PM by Elizabeth Harrow (RSS feed)
Filed under: Gap Inc (GPS), Options, Technical Analysis
Call options were in heavy rotation Monday on The Gap (GPS). Within the first hour of trading, 3,350 of these bullishly oriented options crossed the tape -- about four times the expected number of call contracts. The bulk of this activity took place at The Gap's January 2011 22.50 call, where 3,031 contracts were traded. Approximately 77% of these calls changed hands at the ask price, indicating they were purchased.
However, this skew toward calls simply continues a recent trend for GPS. During the past 10 days, speculators on the International Securities Exchange (ISE) have bought to open 5.99 calls for every put on the retailer. This ratio ranks above 75% of other such readings taken during the previous year, indicating that traders on the ISE have purchased calls over puts at a faster pace just 25% of the time.
Continue reading Call Players Place Their Bets on The Gap
Posted Dec 13th 2010 12:30PM by Elizabeth Harrow (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major Movement, Analyst Reports, China, Options, Technical Analysis
American Superconductor (AMSC) gapped lower right out of the gate this morning, thanks to a bearish write-up in Barron's (subscription required) over the weekend. In a piece titled "Flagging Winds from China," author Bill Alpert warns of "signs that China's boom in wind power is slowing." As points of concern, Alpert points to dropping prices and rising inventories in the wind-turbine industry.
AMSC tumbled to a loss of more than 6% Monday morning, deepening its year-to-date decline of 18%. The stock has suffered four consecutive Friday closes beneath its 10-week moving average, and AMSC is now trading below its 20-week moving average, as well. Going forward, these formerly supportive trendlines could switch roles to act as resistance.
Continue reading American Superconductor Slides on Bearish Barron's Article
Posted Dec 8th 2010 3:00PM by Elizabeth Harrow (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings Reports, Technical Analysis
Lululemon Athletica (LULU) will take its turn in the earnings confessional bright and early tomorrow morning, Dec. 9. Analysts are expecting the athletic apparel firm to report a third-quarter profit of 25 cents per share, up from 20 cents per share in the year-ago period. LULU has an impressive track record in the earnings spotlight, having exceeded Wall Street's consensus profit expectations in each of the past four quarters.
The stock has also established itself as a technical outperformer, with LULU rising 82.5% so far in 2010. This impressive ascent has been underlined by reliable support at the stock's 10-week, 20-week, and 50-week moving averages, which have guided LULU higher since July 2009.
Continue reading Can Lululemon Athletica Top Earnings Estimates Again?
Posted Dec 7th 2010 1:30PM by Elizabeth Harrow (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings Reports, H and R Block (HRB), Options, Technical Analysis

Tax specialist H&R Block (
HRB) is slated to take the
earnings stage tonight, with Wall Street anticipating a fiscal second-quarter loss of 38 cents per share -- right in line with the firm's year-ago deficit. HRB has been a solid performer on the earnings front, as the company has surpassed analysts' bottom-line expectations in each of the past four quarters.
Judging by today's option activity, traders are anticipating another upside surprise from HRB. Within the first two hours of the session, no fewer than 13,000 calls crossed the tape -- absolutely dwarfing HRB's average daily call volume of just 4,012 contracts.
Continue reading Call Volume Soars Ahead of Earnings from H&R Block
Posted Nov 23rd 2010 2:00PM by Elizabeth Harrow (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings Reports, Options, Technical Analysis

Television titan TiVo (
TIVO) will step into the
earnings spotlight after tonight's closing bell, with Wall Street looking for a third-quarter loss of 17 cents per share -- wider than TiVo's year-ago deficit of 6 cents per share. The firm has been on a hot streak with its quarterly reports, having exceeded analysts' consensus earnings expectations in each of the last three reporting periods.
However, the equity's technical performance isn't quite so impressive. The shares took a dive earlier this month after TiVo's patent dispute with EchoStar (
SATS) and Dish Network (
DISH)
took an ugly turn in the courtroom, and the stock has yet to recover.
Continue reading Will TiVo Pop or Drop After Its Q3 Report?
Posted Nov 15th 2010 11:30AM by Elizabeth Harrow (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major Movement, Analyst Reports, Options
Mela Sciences (MELA) gapped higher right out of the gate Monday, with the shares surging roughly 12% on Monday morning. Over the weekend, Barron's noted that the stock is "worth a close look ahead of a regulatory vote on Nov. 18," and traders are apparently taking the suggestion to heart.
The financial publication described its opinion on the shares as "cautiously optimistic," explaining that analysts believe MELA could double if its MelaFind device receives the OK from a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel this Thursday. However, warned Barron's, a regulatory thumbs-down "could cut the shares in half."
Continue reading Mela Sciences Surges Ahead of FDA Panel
Posted Nov 11th 2010 11:20AM by Elizabeth Harrow (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major Movement, Deals, Netflix, Inc. (NFLX), Technical Analysis, Level 3 Communications (LVLT), Akamai Technologies (AKAM)

Level 3 Communications (
LVLT) burst higher right out of the gate Thursday morning, as traders cheered the company's
new streaming deal with Netflix (
NFLX). Level 3 said it has been chosen as a primary content delivery network provider for Netflix, with the company providing support for streaming movies and TV shows. Additionally, Level 3 will store Netflix's entire streaming content library beginning Jan. 1.
This announcement confirms speculation that started swirling earlier in the week, when rumors hit Wall Street that Netflix was looking to ditch its content delivery deal with Akamai Technologies (
AKAM). Shares of Akamai slipped about 3% Thursday morning, even though Netflix said earlier it would "
continue to engage Akamai as part of our multivendor strategy."
Continue reading Level 3 Communications Scores Lucrative Netflix Deal
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