Yesterday, I woke up (who does this at 3:30 a.m. with no alarm?) a few minutes after the opening bell, too late to even consider buying some Foster Wheeler before the bell. Fortunately, there was no decision for me. The Co had missed estimates and plunged before the market opened. Still falling this morning (currently $96 after hitting $112 in Tuesday's extended hours).
Today, I'm up again without the alarm clock. It was almost 4 a.m. when I turned on the laptop and TV to find the market back in a sea of red. Funds are closing shop again and it's not over by a long shot. My watch list is mostly red with a few exceptions. Among them is Hoku Scientific, up for a second day in a row.
Interesting. HOKU was up yesterday without news, but someone probably leaked news about, well, this morning's announcement. This is a bizarre stock sometimes, not because of the Co, but because of public sentiment that goes to different extremes. A simple announcement about a contract for the building of the Co's polysilicon plant in Pocatello, Idaho, has driven the stock to a gain of more than 40% off its recent low to $10.50. With the Dow Jones down as much as 241 points earlier and the Nasdaq currently off by 11 points, that's quite a gain. The positive trading in HOKU for three sessions in a row is a welcome bounce for an oversold stock. Should HOKU be at the $14 level of last month? Or was the recent low of $7.50 more realistic? The moving averages say $9 is where the stock's tight range is.
If this is short covering, maybe there was simply an abundance of profit-taking, or lack of greed on the part of bears. But it seems quite strange for any stock to move this much over a routine announcement. Then again, any massive gain up or down is a trip. The plant won't be completed until early 2009 at the earliest
And as I write, the Nas has gone green. Hoku's day may just be starting.
Pupule Paul is slightly long HOKU.
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