More Than Half of One 3D Printing Company’s Shares Are Short

Short interest in the two-week period ending September 15 fell for two of the four 3D printing companies we follow and rose for the other two. Share prices at all four have posted year-to-date declines, and only one stock trades within sight of its 52-week high. These stocks are not trading as heavily as they once were either. Days to cover rose for all the 3D printing stocks.
Short interest in 3D Systems Corp. (NYSE: DDD) fell 2.5% to 35.77 million shares. Some 34.3% of the company’s stock is short. Days to cover rose to 14. In the two-week short interest period, the share price fell more than 6% and is down more than 47% for the year to date as of Wednesday’s close at $49.54. The stock’s 52-week range is $43.35 to $97.28.
Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ: SSYS) saw short interest rise 4.5% in the first two weeks of September to 6.53 million shares, or about 15% of the company’s float. Days to cover now stands at six. Shares rose 3.2% in the two-week period, closed at $124.41 Wednesday night and have dropped about 7.2% for the year to date. The stock’s 52-week range is $85.30 to $138.10. An analyst downgrade in early September probably spiked the rise in short interest.
Short interest in The ExOne Co. (NASDAQ: XONE) rose about 3,0% to 4.62 million shares. About 51% of the company’s shares are now held short. Shares of ExOne fell more than 12% in the two-week period and closed at $24.82 Wednesday, down about 60% year to date. The stock’s 52-week range is $24.34 to $70.25, and days to cover rose to nine.
Voxeljet A.G. (NYSE: VJET) saw short interest fall 1.0% to 2.9 million shares, with a days to cover number of eight. Since coming public at $19 in mid-October last year, the share price is down about 45%. Year to date, shares are down nearly 64%, and they fell 9% in the two-week period to September 15. The stock closed at $15.80, in a post-IPO range of $12.85 to $70.00.
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Homebuilders: Look Out Below

KB Home released its Q3 earnings report yesterday.  This is what the stock market thought of KBH’s numbers (click on graph to enlarge):

The stock is down nearly 10% in two trading days despite the “bullish” new home sales report from the Census Bureau (more on that later).  KBH reported another decline in actual deliveries.  It also implemented some serious earnings “management” devices to make its net income appear larger than it really was.  I suspect that when they get around to releasing their 10-Q with a cash flow statement in it, we’ll see that it once again generated a cash flow loss from operations…
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Cirrus Logic, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRUS)

Cirrus Logic, Inc., a fabless semiconductor company, develops analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits (ICs) for a range of consumer and industrial markets. The company offers audio products, including analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), digital-to-analog converters (DACs), codecs, digital interface ICs, volume controls, adaptive noise cancelling circuits, and amplifiers, as well as audio digital signal processors. Its audio products are used in various consumer applications comprising portable media players, smartphones, tablets, laptops, audio/video receivers, portable media players and speakers, home theater systems, set-top boxes, headsets and headphones, and digital camcorders and televisions.
Take a look at the 1-year chart of Cirrus (Nasdaq: CRUS) with the added notations:

Over the last year CRUS has been up, down, back up again, and since the beginning of June the stock has created a key level of support at $22 (green). The stock finally broke that support yesterday. The stock should be moving overall lower, at least down to the next level of $21 (red). A break of $21 most likely means a fall back down to $19 (blue).

The Tale of the Tape: CRUS had a key level of support at $22. Now that the stock has broken support, a trader might want to enter a short trade at or near the $22, with a stop placed above the level of entry. A break back above $22 could negate the forecast for a move lower.
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Iron Ore Falls Below $80 On China Swoon— Lowest Since 2009

 

  

Iron ore slumped below $80 a metric ton for the first time in five years on speculation that China’s slowing economic growth will curb demand in the world’s biggest user, exacerbating a global surplus.

Ore with 62 percent content delivered to Qingdao, China, fell 0.5 percent to $79.69 a dry ton, the lowest level since Sept. 16, 2009, according to data from Metal Bulletin Ltd. The drop followed seven weeks of declines as the steelmaking raw material had the longest run of losses since May. (more)

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GLD gold holdings hit new Yearly Low

Western-based gold investment demand continues to plummet as gold is being sold in order to buy equities. It is a continuation of the theme that has been in place for the majority of 2014. The surging stock market, coupled with a strong Dollar, is undercutting interest in the zero-interest paying asset. 

Add to this recipe falling inflation expectations, and it is looking more and more likely that, barring some sort of unforeseen geopolitical event, gold is not going to be able to stay above the $1200 level.

Take a look at the following two charts which I post very regularly here. The first is the reported holdings of the giant gold ETF, GLD. 

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Is Corn Heading For A Bounce?

There's a big opportunity setting up for commodities investors...

 

Thanks to mild weather and plenty of rain, the U.S. is expecting the largest corn crop it has ever seen.

 

But good news for corn supply is bad news for corn prices... The price of the commodity has fallen around 20% this year. And many expect it to keep falling.

 

While corn prices may be set to fall in the short term, a boom is just around the corner. And investors are about to have a great chance to get in...(more)

 

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Why Oil Prices Are Dropping Despite Mideast Unrest

by Jeff Rubin
Financial Sense
In the past, military conflicts in the Middle East and the attendant threat of supply disruptions would send oil prices soaring. Today, oil prices are falling even as the region is seemingly unraveling. Civil wars are unfolding in Iraq, Syria, and Libya, atrocities by ISIS have the western world mounting military action, and Hamas and Israel are coming off arguably the most intense period of conflict in years. The region feels like a tinderbox. Oil supply has already suffered in Libya and Iraq and the threat of production losses is looming over other countries in the region.
Historically, such widespread unrest would have caused global oil prices to march higher, but instead of rising against the backdrop of heightened geopolitical risks, Brent, the global price benchmark, has recently sunk below $100 a barrel. Despite the unrest in the world’s most important oil producing region, the price of Brent is now actually 16 percent lower than it was in June.
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