Earnings Excitement Faded, Trends Breaking, and Still Not Oversold

Earnings excitement is one casualty of the current selling in the market. Several big cap stocks and multinational companies generated a lot of hype and attention from their earnings results this quarter. A number of those gains have been erased and then some. Four stocks have attracted my particular interest: Apple (APPL) – A market … Read more

MEMC Experiences Volume Pressures In Solar, Sustainability Questioned

MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR) manufactures silicon wafer solutions for the semiconductor and solar industries. WFR fell 19% on Friday in response to earnings despite the company’s reassurances that it is on track to meet full-year guidance targets (click here for the transcript from Seeking Alpha): “In the first quarter, revenue was ahead of our internal … Read more

Adjustment to Goldman Sachs Vs. Deutsche Bank Pairs Trade

Earlier this week, I suggested setting up a pairs trade between Goldman Sachs (GS) and Deutsche Bank Ag (DB) to take advantage of an apparent growing divergence in performance between the two financial giants. My main recommendation rested on a put spread for GS and a call spread for DB. After thinking about the structure … Read more

First Solar Hits Price Target – Now I Go Neutral

My earnings play on First Solar (FSLR) unfolded much better than expected today. The post-earnings pop took FSLR directly to my standing $149/150 price target that represents a fill of the earnings gap from October. See chart below: *Chart created using TeleChart: I believe the biggest catalyst for today’s 18% move was FSLR’s tremendous boost … Read more