Buzz Stocks: Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, SolarCity Corp, and Caesars Entertainment Corp

U.S. stocks are down, erasing early gains as the historically bearish month of August begins with a slide in crude oil prices and a round of manufacturing data. Among equities in focus today are biotech Keryx Biopharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:KERX), renewable energy firm SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY), and casino stock Caesars Entertainment Corp (NADAQ:CZR).

• KERX is down 31.4% at $5.07, after production issues for its kidney disease drug, Auryxia -- its only approved drug -- caused the firm to withdraw its 2016 financial guidance. Prior to today's losses, KERX was up 45.7% for 2016, but is now struggling to stay above breakeven year-to-date, and the shares now sit below their 10-week moving average, which had acted as support since early March. While KERX has landed on the short-sale restricted list, there are likely quite a few shorts celebrating this news, with 23.7% of Keryx Biopharmaceuticals' float sold short -- an amount that would take over three weeks of trading to cover, at KERX's average daily volume. 

• No stranger to the limelight, SCTY is down 6.1% at $25.06, after Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) announced it would be buying the solar energy concern for $2.6 billion, or about $25.37 per share -- a discount to SCTY's closing price of $26.70 on Friday. One month ago, Credit Suisse opined that TSLA's $2.8 billion bid "grossly undervalued" SCTY. SolarCity Corp, which has lost over 56% of its value year-over-year, has struggled with resistance from its 160-day moving average since January. Although short interest in the stock fell by nearly 6.3% over the last reporting period, shorted shares still make up over 37% of SCTY's float.

• CZR is up 8.6% at $7.49, following the announcement that its online games unit will be sold to a Chinese consortium for $4.4 billion. CZR currently sits up 42.8% year-over-year, and its Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 78% sits lower than 91% of all other readings from the past year, indicating that near-term option traders are pricing in relatively low volatility expectations ahead of tomorrow's earnings call. CZR option buyers are likely cheering this latest news, with Caesars Entertainment Corp's 10-day call/put volume ratio at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) of 5.21 sitting in the 91st percentile of its annual range.

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