Today's stocks to watch include Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA), Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc. (AAWW), Synacor Inc (SYNC)
U.S. stocks are up thanks to a rally in crude oil prices. Among equities in focus today are e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA), aircraft and aviation services stock Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAWW), and digital solutions provider Synacor Inc (NASDAQ:SYNC).
- BABA is up 4.5% at $79.29, following an impressive earnings report. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd revenue was up 39%, beating analyst estimates, although its earnings of 46 cents per share came in slightly under expectations. Although short interest in the stock fell 5.5% over the last reporting period, BABA still has more than 85.3 million shares sold short, which would take 8.5 sessions for traders to cover, at BABA's average daily trading volume. The stock's Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) sits at a relatively high 92, indicating BABA has tended to exceed volatility expectations over the past year, a fact that options players may find attractive. On the charts, BABA could run into a speed bump in the $80-$82 area, which has stifled rally attempts since an early January bear gap.
- AAWW shares are trading at $51.82, a striking 35.2% jump, after the company announced it would be providing air cargo services to Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), as well as giving the online retailer warrants to acquire up to 20% of AAWW's common shares over the next five years. Earlier in the session, AAWW rallied as high as $57.77 -- within striking distance of its June 2015 highs. Short interest on AAWW has risen 8.1% over the last two reporting periods, and 7.1% of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc.'s float is currently short sold. It would take close to two weeks of trading, at AAWW's average daily volume, to repurchase all of the shorted shares -- plenty of fuel for a short squeeze.
- SYNC has blasted out of the gate today, with shares up 149.7% at $3.52, following news that AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) has ended its 15-year web-hosting contract with fundamentally challenged Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ:YHOO), and will hand over management of its att.net portal to Synacor Inc, in a contract that is expected to bring in $100 million in annual revenue. SYNC skyrocketed as high as $3.98 earlier -- in three-year-high territory -- and a short-covering rally could fuel more upside. More than 16% of SYNC's shares are short sold, which would take 8.5 sessions of trading, at SYNC's average daily volume, for traders to recoup.
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