Stocks On the Move: Akorn, Inc., Chevron Corporation, and Performant Financial Corp

U.S. stocks are mixed, as crude oil prices rally on an expanded output cap agreement. Among specific equities in focus today are biotech Akorn, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKRX), blue-chip oil stock Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), and tech stock Performant Financial Corp (NASDAQ:PFMT). Here's a quick look at what's moving AKRX, CVX, and PFMT.

• AKRX is up 8.3% at $20.15, after the drugmaker announced its Decatur facility passed re-inspection by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This is a much-needed boost for the shares, which are still down by over 45% in 2016, and just last week were within striking distance of new two-year lows. Short sellers have been jumping ship as of late, with AKRX's short interest down 18.3% over the last two reporting periods. Nevertheless, there's likely plenty of short sellers sweating today's price action, given shorted shares still account for 12.2% of Akorn, Inc's float, which would take nearly nine days of trading to cover, at AKRX's average daily volume.
  
  
• CVX is up 1.9% at $118, as the stock follows the oil rally higher, notching a two-year high of $18.99 earlier today. CVX has been on a steady trek higher since late October, and has added roughly 15% in three months. Nevertheless, near-term option players have been especially put-skewed as of late, with Chevron Corporation's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.42 sitting in the 80th percentile of its annual range.

• PFMT is trading 38.1% lower at $2.39, after announcing it had not been chosen as one of the Department of Education's seven contractors for unrestricted recovery. PFMT -- which was halted earlier -- is currently on the short-sale restricted (SSR) list, and is among the worst performers on the Nasdaq. What's more, Compass Point downgraded PFMT to "neutral" from "buy," and sliced its price target to $3 from $4.50. Prior to today, the shares had been on a steady path of higher highs since July, and had more than doubled year-to-date.  Plus, option buyers were getting quite the bargain, with premiums near an annual low before today's nosedive. Performant Financial Corp's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 108% sat lower than 96% of all other readings from the past year, indicating near-term option players were pricing in historically low volatility expectations.