Goldman Sachs Posts Huge Earnings Miss

Further evidence of weakness among global banks came in the form of a huge earnings disappointment issued by Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) earlier today. Goldman’s earnings missed analyst expectations by a wide margin, reporting an anemic $0.78 EPS compared to the already depressed $1.99 EPS that analysts were expecting. Even taking into account one time… Continue Reading

Trina Solar Surging on Analyst Upgrade, Risk Appetite

Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) continues to surge in trading today, following an analyst upgrade and a strong show for risk appetite more broadly. Collins Stewart analyst, Dan Ries, is upping his target for Trina from $27 to $29 per share, noting that the company’s cost structure is among the most favorable in the space. Mr…. Continue Reading

Tesla IPO Debuting Soon – A loser in the making

Tesla Motors (NDAQ: TSLA) is scheduled to debut any time now, with indications pointing to a $17 per share price tag. The target range for Tesla had been set for $14 to $16 per share, making the $17 pricing better than expected — but perhaps for no good reason. The company has been a net… Continue Reading

Morgan Stanley Leads Bank Shares Lower

Bank shares are getting routed in early today, with Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) leading the group to fresh lows. Shares of Morgan Stanley are lower by over 3% in early trading, last priced at $23.73. As a whole, the banking sector has faced extreme pressure in trading of late, as concerns ranging from a slowing… Continue Reading

Goldman Sachs: First Solar Shares a ‘Top Pick’ Buy

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) sees upside for First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR), initiating coverage on the stock with a “buy” rating and an optimistic target price. Goldman analyst, Mark Wienkes, is naming First Solar a “top pick,” tantamount to a strong buy rating on the stock. (Of course, Goldman’s record with top picks has been a… Continue Reading

Options Trader Betting on KB Home

A trader is selling volatility on KB Home, following last weeks earnings release that dragged shares of the homebuilder lower by 9%. The trader sold over 3,000 contracts of the August $10 puts on the homebuilder, which nearly matches the average daily options volume on KB Home in a single trade. The contracts were written… Continue Reading

BP Shares Plummet on Technical Breach

Shares of BP (NYSE: BP) are falling sharply in trading today, as shares took out the key $29 support level during yesterday’s session. Last priced at $27.21, shares of the oil giant are down over 5% in early trading. Yesterday, shares broke through the $29 support level, which should send shares as low as $21… Continue Reading

KB Home Leads Homebuilders Lower

Home builders are on the decline in trading today, led by a worse-than-expected earnings report out of KB Home (NYSE: KBH). Shares of KB Home are lower by over 8% in early trading — and falling fast — as the homebuilder posted a loss of $0.40 per share for the quarter ended May 31, compared… Continue Reading

Banco Santander Shopping Citi Assets – Auto Loans

Santander Consumer USA, an affiliate of Banco Santander (NYSE: STD), will buy $3.2 billion worth of CitiFinancial’s auto loan portfolio. The deal includes an agreement through which Santander will service a $7.2 billion portfolio of auto loans to be held at Citi (NYSE: C). The deal comes as Citi looks to unload assets held by… Continue Reading

Bearish Options Volume on Bank Stocks Surge

Traders are betting against big banks and brokerages today, where bearish option volume is surging to better than 2.4 times the four-week average. The Financial SPDR (XLF) exchange-traded fund is seeing huge put volume today — or bets that the index will fall — as lawmakers continue to hammer out details on a new financial… Continue Reading