Report
Dave Nicoski ...
  • Ross LaDuke
EUR 47.02 For Business Accounts Only

Vermilion Short Shots: Technically Vulnerable Stocks

Short Shots is a collection of technically vulnerable charts culled from the Negative Inflecting and Toppy columns within our Weekly Compass report or from various technical screening processes. The charts contained in this report have developed concerning technical patterns that suggest further price deterioration is likely. For these reasons Short Shots can also be a great source of ideas for investors interested in short-selling candidates.
Underlyings
Advance Auto Parts Inc.

Advance Auto Parts is an automotive aftermarket parts provider in North America, serving both professional installers (Professional), and do-it-yourself (DIY), customers as well as independently owned operators. The company's stores and branches provide a range selection of brand name, original equipment manufacturer and private label automotive replacement parts, accessories, batteries and maintenance items for domestic and imported cars, vans, sport utility vehicles and light and heavy duty trucks. Through its integrated operating approach, the company serves its Professional and DIY customers through a variety of channels ranging from brick and mortar store locations to self-service e-commerce sites.

Alcoa Corporation

Alcoa is a vertically integrated aluminum company comprised of bauxite mining, alumina refining, aluminum production (smelting, casting, and rolling), and energy generation. Through direct and indirect ownership, the company has 30 operating locations in nine countries around the world, situated primarily in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Iceland, Norway, Spain, and United States.

AutoZone Inc.

AutoZone is a retailer and a distributor of automotive replacement parts and accessories. The company operates stores in the United States, including Puerto Rico and Saint Thomas, Mexico, and Brazil. Each store carries a product line for cars, sport utility vehicles, vans and light trucks, including new and remanufactured automotive hard parts, maintenance items, accessories and non-automotive products. In addition, the company has a commercial sales program that provides commercial credit and delivery of parts and other products to local, regional and national repair garages, dealers, service stations and public sector accounts. The company also sells the ALLDATA brand automotive diagnostic and repair software.

Benefitfocus Inc.

Benefitfocus provides a cloud-based benefits management platform for buyers (consumers, employees and employers) and sellers (insurance brokers, carriers and suppliers). The Benefitfocus Platform enable organizations and individuals transact benefits. The company's employer, carrier, broker and supplier customers uses its platform to manage, scale and exchange benefits data. The Benefitfocus Platform is designed for consumers to access all of their benefits in one place. The company's solutions support medical benefit plans and non-medical benefits, such as, dental, life, disability insurance, income protection, digital health and financial wellness.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp is the holding company for Berkshire Bank and Berkshire Insurance Group, Inc. The company provides a range of deposit, lending, insurance, and wealth management products to retail and commercial customers. The company's loan portfolio is segregated into the following segments: commercial real estate, commercial and industrial, residential mortgage, and consumer. Commercial real estate loans include construction, single and multi-family, and other commercial real estate classes. Residential mortgage loans include classes for one-to-four family owner occupied and construction loans. Consumer loans include home equity, direct and indirect auto, and other consumer loan classes.

C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc.

Robinson (C.H.) Worldwide is a third party logistics company. The company provides freight transportation services and logistics solutions to companies. The company's segments are: North American Surface Transportation, which provides freight transportation services across North America through a network of offices; and Global Forwarding, which provides global logistics services through an international network of offices and also contracts with independent agents; and All Other and Corporate, which includes Robinson Fresh? that provides sourcing services including the buying, selling, and marketing of fresh fruits, vegetables, and other perishable items, and managed services that provides Managed TMS?.

Cal-Maine Foods Inc.

Cal-Maine Foods is a producer and marketer of shell eggs. The company has one operating segment, which is the production, grading, packaging, marketing and distribution of shell eggs. The company sells most of its shell eggs in the southwestern, southeastern, mid-western and mid-Atlantic regions of the U.S. through its distribution network to a group of customers, including national and regional grocery store chains, club stores, foodservice distributors and egg product consumers. The company markets cage-free eggs under its trademarked Farmhouse? brand and distributes them across the southeast and southwest regions of the U.S. The company markets organic, cage-free, vegetarian, and omega-3 eggs under its 4-Grain? brand.

Carpenter Technology Corporation

Carpenter Technology is a producer and distributor of alloys, including titanium alloys, powder metals, stainless steels, alloy steels, and tool steels as well as drilling tools. The company's alloy-based materials and process solutions are used for applications in the aerospace, defense, transportation, energy, medical, industrial and consumer markets as well as additive manufacturing processes and soft magnetics applications. The company also produces metal powders and parts. The company has two business segments: Specialty Alloys Operations, which consists of the company's alloy and stainless steel manufacturing operations; and Performance Engineered Products, which consists of the company's differentiated operations.

Chevron Corporation

Chevron is engaged in energy and chemicals operations. Upstream operations consist primarily of, among others, exploring for, developing and producing crude oil and natural gas; processing, liquefaction, transportation and regasification associated with liquefied natural gas, storage and marketing of natural gas; and a gas-to-liquids plant. Downstream operations consist primarily of, among others, refining crude oil into petroleum products; marketing of crude oil and refined products; and manufacturing and marketing of commodity petrochemicals, plastics for industrial uses and fuel and lubricant additives.

Crestwood Equity Partners LP

Crestwood Equity Partners is a holding company. Through its subsidiary, the company develops, acquires, owns or controls, and operates assets and operations within the energy midstream sector. The company's segments are: gathering and processing, which provides gathering and transportation services and processing, treating and compression services to producers; storage and transportation, which provides crude oil and natural gas storage and transportation services to producers, utilities and other customers; and marketing, supply and logistics, which provides natural gas liquid, crude oil and natural gas marketing, storage and transportation services to producers, refiners, marketers and other customers.

CVR Energy Inc.

CVR Energy is a holding company. The company is engaged in the petroleum refining and nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing industries through its holdings in CVR Refining, LP (CVR Refining) and CVR Partners, LP (CVR Partners). CVR Refining is an independent petroleum refiner and marketer of transportation fuels. CVR Partners produces and markets nitrogen fertilizers in the form of urea ammonium nitrate and ammonia. The company's segments include: Petroleum, which includes refineries located in Coffeyville, KS and Wynnewood, OK and supporting logistics assets in the region; and Nitrogen Fertilizer, which includes nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing facilities located in Coffeyville, KS and East Dubuque, IL.

DISCOVER FINANCIAL SERVICES

Discover Financial Services is a bank holding, as well as a financial holding company. The company manages its business activities in two segments: Direct Banking, which includes consumer banking and lending products, specifically Discover-branded credit cards issued to individuals on the Discover Network and other consumer banking products and services, including student loans, personal loans, home equity loans, and deposit products; and Payment Services, which includes the PULSE network, Diners Club International and its Network Partners business, which provides payment transaction processing and settlement services on the Discover Network.

Dril-Quip Inc.

Dril-Quip designs, manufactures, sells and services drilling and production equipment for use in deepwater, harsh environment and severe service applications. The company's products consist of subsea and surface wellheads, subsea and surface production trees, subsea control systems and manifolds, mudline hanger systems, connectors and associated pipe, drilling and production riser systems, liner hangers, wellhead connectors, diverters and safety valves. The company provides technical advisory assistance during installation of its products, as well as rework and reconditioning services. The company's customers may rent or purchase running tools from the company for use in the installation and retrieval of its products.

Exxon Mobil Corporation

Exxon Mobil operates or markets products in United States and other countries through its divisions and affiliated companies. The company's business involves exploration for, and production of, crude oil and natural gas and manufacture, trade, transport and sale of crude oil, natural gas, petroleum products, petrochemicals and other products. In United States, the company's development activities are focused on the onshore United States, in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico and the Bakken oil play in North Dakota. Gas development activities are also focused on the Marcellus Shale of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, the Utica Shale of Ohio and the Haynesville Shale of East Texas and Louisiana.

FB Financial Corporation

FB Financial is a bank holding company. Through its bank subsidiary, FirstBank (the Bank), the company is engaged in providing a suite of commercial and consumer banking services to clients. The company's commercial lending products include working capital lines of credit, equipment loans, owner-occupied and non-owner-occupied real estate construction loans, mini-perm real estate term loans, and cash flow loans to a mix of clients, including small and medium sized businesses. The company's consumer lending products include first and second residential mortgage loans, home equity lines of credit and consumer installment loans to purchase cars, boats and other recreational vehicles.

Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor designs, manufactures, markets, and services a line of Ford cars, trucks, sport utility vehicles, electrified vehicles, and Lincoln vehicles, as well as provides financial services through its subsidiary, Ford Motor Credit Company LLC. The company is engaged in electrification; mobility solutions, including self-driving services; and connected vehicle services. The company has three operating segments: Automotive, which includes the sale of Ford and Lincoln vehicles, service parts, and accessories; Mobility, which includes its autonomous vehicles and its investment in mobility through Ford Smart Mobility LLC; and Ford Credit, which includes vehicle-related financing and leasing activities.

General Motors Company

General Motors designs, builds and sells trucks, crossovers, cars and automobile parts. The company also provides automotive financing services through its subsidiary, General Motors Financial Company, Inc. (GM Financial). GM Financial provides retail loan and lease lending across the credit spectrum. GM Financial provides commercial lending products to dealers including new and used vehicle inventory floorplan financing and dealer loans, which are loans to finance improvements to dealership facilities, to provide working capital, and to purchase and/or finance dealership real estate. Other commercial lending products include financing for parts and accessories, dealer fleets and storage centers.

Haemonetics Corporation

Haemonetics is a healthcare company. The company has three product categories: Plasma, which includes plasma collection devices and disposables, plasma donor management software, and anticoagulant and saline sold to plasma customers; Blood Center, which includes blood collection and processing devices and disposables for red cells, platelets and whole blood as well as related donor management software; and Hospital, which is comprised of Hemostasis Management and Cell Processing products, includes devices and methodologies for measuring coagulation characteristics of blood, surgical blood salvage systems, blood cell processing systems, disposables and blood transfusion management software.

Hanmi Financial Corporation

Hanmi Financial is a bank holding company. Through its subsidiary, Hanmi Bank (the Bank), the company is a community bank conducting general business banking, with its primary market encompassing the Korean-American community as well as other ethnic communities across California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Virginia and Washington. Lending activities include real estate loans (commercial property, construction and residential property), commercial and industrial loans (commercial term, commercial lines of credit and international), equipment lease financing, consumer loans and Small Business Administration loans.

HealthStream Inc.

Healthstream provides workforce and provider solutions for healthcare organizations. The company's segments are: Workforce Solutions, which is comprised primarily of Software-as-a-Service and subscription-based products for clinical development, talent management, training, certification, competency assessment, performance appraisal, and additional needs; and Provider Solutions, which provides EchoCredentialing? and MSOW? platforms that manage medical staff credentialing and privileging processes for hospitals, EchoOneApp? platform for medical groups, and EchoAccess? platform to support hospital call centers with physician referral and provider directories functionalities.

Hess Corporation

Hess is a global exploration and production company engaged in exploration, development, production, transportation, purchase and sale of crude oil, natural gas liquid (NGL), and natural gas with production operations located primarily in the United States, Guyana, the Malaysia/Thailand Joint Development Area, Malaysia and Denmark. The company's Midstream operating segment provides fee-based services, including gathering, compressing and processing natural gas and fractionating NGL; gathering, terminaling, loading and transporting crude oil and NGL; storing and terminaling propane, and water handling services primarily in the Bakken shale play in the Williston Basin area of North Dakota.

HSBC Holdings (ADR)

Ingevity Corporation

Ingevity is a manufacturer of specialty chemicals and activated carbon materials. The company reports in two business segments: Performance Materials, which manufactures and sells hardwood-based, chemically activated carbon products, produced through a technical and specialized process primarily for use in gasoline vapor emission control systems in cars, trucks, motorcycles and boats; and Performance Chemicals, which is comprised of four application areas (pavement technologies, oilfield technologies, industrial specialties, and engineered polymers), develops, manufactures, and sells a range of specialty chemicals primarily derived from co-products of the kraft pulping process and caprolactone.

Kura Oncology Inc.

Kura Oncology is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in developing medicines for the treatment of cancer. The company's key product candidate, tipifarnib, is a selective and orally bioavailable inhibitor of farnesyl transferase. The company's second product candidate is KO-947, a selective small molecule inhibitor of extracellular signal related kinase, which the company is developing as a potential treatment for patients with tumors that have dysregulated activity due to mutations or other mechanisms in the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway. The company's third product candidate is KO-539, a selective small molecule inhibitor of the menin-mixed lineage leukemia, protein-protein interaction.

Lennox International Inc.

Lennox International provides climate control solutions. The company designs, manufactures and markets products for the heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration markets. The company's segments are: Residential Heating and Cooling, which manufactures and markets furnaces, air conditioners, heat pumps, packaged heating and cooling systems, equipment and accessories, comfort control products, and replacement parts and supplies; Commercial Heating and Cooling, which manufactures and sells unitary heating and cooling equipment; and Refrigeration, which manufactures and markets equipment for the global commercial refrigeration markets under the Heatcraft Worldwide Refrigeration name.

LivaNova Plc

LivaNova is a medical device company focused on the development and delivery of therapeutic solutions. Co. has three product franchises: Neuromodulation, which engaged in the design, development and marketing of neuromodulation therapy for the treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy and treatment resistant depression; Cardiac Surgery, which engaged in the development, production and sale of cardiovascular surgery products; and Cardiac Rhythm Management, which engaged in the development, manufacturing and marketing of products for the diagnosis, treatment, and management of heart rhythm disorders and heart failure.

Macerich Company

Macerich is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust. The company is involved in the acquisition, ownership, development, redevelopment, management and leasing of regional and community/power shopping centers. The company is the sole general partner of, and owns a majority of the ownership interests in, The Macerich Partnership, L.P. (the Operating Partnership). The Operating Partnership owns or has an ownership interest in regional shopping centers and community/power shopping centers. The company conducts all of its operations through the Operating Partnership and its management companies, including Macerich Property Management Company, LLC and Macerich Management Company.

Marcus Corporation

Marcus is engaged primarily in two business segments: movie theatres and hotels and resorts. The movie theatres segment operates multiscreen motion picture theatres in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia, a family entertainment center in Wisconsin and a retail center in Missouri. The hotels and resorts segment owns and operates full service hotels and resorts in Wisconsin, Illinois, Oklahoma and Nebraska and manages full service hotels, resorts and other properties in Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Texas, Nevada, California and Nebraska.

National Fuel Gas Company

National Fuel Gas is a holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the company is engaged principally in the production, gathering, transportation, distribution and marketing of natural gas. The company's segments are: Exploration and Production, which is engaged in the exploration for, and the development and production of, natural gas and oil reserves in California and in the Appalachian region; Pipeline and Storage, which provides interstate natural gas transportation and storage services, as well as transports and stores natural gas; Gathering, which builds, owns and operates natural gas processing and pipeline gathering facilities; and Utility, which provides natural gas utility services.

Nucor Corporation

Nucor manufactures steel and steel products. The company's operations include international trading and sales companies that buy and sell steel and steel products. The company's segments are: steel mills, which produces sheet steel, plate steel, structural steel, and bar steel; steel products, which produces hollow structural section steel tubing, electrical conduit, steel joists and joist girders, steel deck, cold finished steel, steel fasteners, metal building systems, and wire and wire mesh; and raw materials, which produces direct reduced iron (DRI), brokers ferrous and nonferrous metals, pig iron, hot briquetted iron and DRI, supplies ferro-alloys, and processes ferrous and nonferrous scrap metal.

Nutrien Ltd.

Nutrien Ltd is Canada-based crop nutrient producer and distributer of potash, nitrogen and phosphate products for agricultural, industrial and feed customers worldwide. The Company is focused on retail, potash, nitrogen and phosphate mining and processing operations. The Company's retail operations serve growers in a number of countries across the United States, Canada, South Africa, Australia and South America. The Company operates six potash mines in Saskatchewan and has a mine in New Brunswick in care-and-maintenance mode. The Company operates integrated phosphate mining and processing facilities, as well as a number of smaller upgrading plants in the United States.

OSI Systems Inc.

OSI Systems, together with its subsidiaries, is a designer and manufacturer of electronic systems and components for applications. The company sells its products and provides related services in various markets, including homeland security, healthcare, defense and aerospace. The company's operating divisions are: Security, which provides security and inspection systems, security screening solutions and related services; Healthcare, which provides patient monitoring, diagnostic cardiology, and anesthesia delivery and ventilation systems; Optoelectronics and Manufacturing, which provides electronic components and electronic manufacturing services for the Security and Healthcare divisions.

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust is an internally managed hotel investment company. Substantially all of the company's assets are held by, and all of the operations are conducted through its Operating Partnership, Pebblebrook Hotel, L.P. The company is engaged in acquisition and investment in hotel properties located primarily in U.S. cities, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Key West, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, Naples, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, Santa Monica, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C., with a focus on main gateway urban markets. The company targets investments in resort properties located near its primary target markets, as well as in select destination resort markets.

Pilgrim's Pride Corporation

Pilgrims Pride is primarily engaged in the production, processing, marketing and distribution of fresh, frozen chicken products to retailers, distributors and foodservice operators. The company's primary product types are fresh chicken products, prepared chicken products and export chicken products. The company's fresh chicken products consist of refrigerated (nonfrozen) whole or cut-up chicken, either pre-marinated or non-marinated and prepackaged case-ready chicken. The company's case-ready chicken includes various combinations of freshly refrigerated, whole chickens and chicken parts in trays, bags or other consumer packs labeled and priced ready for the retail grocer's fresh meat counter.

Reinsurance Group of America Incorporated

Reinsurance Group of America is an insurance holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the company is a provider of life and health reinsurance and financial solutions. The company is engaged in providing reinsurance, which includes individual and group life and health, disability, and critical illness reinsurance. The company also provides financial solutions, which includes longevity reinsurance, asset-intensive products, primarily annuities, financial reinsurance, capital solutions and stable value products. The company has five geographic-based and business-based operational segments: United States and Latin America, Canada, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific, and Corporate and Other.

Rhythm Pharmaceuticals

Rhythm Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company. The company's primary product candidate is setmelanotide, which is a melanocortin-4 (MC4) receptor agonist peptide for the treatment of rare genetic disorders of obesity caused by MC4 pathway deficiencies. MC4 pathway deficiencies result in the disruption of satiety signals and energy homeostasis in the body, which, in turn, leads to intense feelings of hunger and to obesity. The company is evaluating setmelanotide for the treatment of six single gene related MC4 pathway deficiencies: pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC), leptin receptor, Bardet-Biedl syndrome, Alstrom syndrome, POMC heterozygous, and POMC epigenetic disorders.

Star Bulk Carriers Corp.

Star Bulk Carriers is an international company providing worldwide transportation solutions in the drybulk sector through its vessels-owning subsidiaries for a range of customers of major and minor bulk cargoes including iron ore, coal, grain, cement, fertilizer, along worldwide shipping routes. As of Dec 31 2016, Co. owned and operated a fleet of 73 vessels consisting primarily of Newcastlemax, Capesize as well as Kamsarmax, Ultramax and Supramax vessels with a carrying capacity between 52,055 dwt and 209,537 dwt. Co.'s vessels transport a range of major and minor bulk commodities, including ores, coal, grains and fertilizers, along worldwide shipping routes.

TreeHouse Foods Inc.

TreeHouse Foods is a consumer packaged food and beverage manufacturer operating across the United States, Canada, and Italy. The company's reportable segments are: Baked Goods, which sells bars, candy, cookies, crackers; in-store bakery products, pita chips, pretzels, refrigerated dough, and retail griddle waffles, pancakes, and French toast; Beverages, which sells broths, liquid non-dairy creamer, non-dairy powdered creamers, powdered drinks, ready-to-drink coffee, single serve hot beverages, teas, and sweeteners; and Meal Solutions, which sells aseptic cheese and pudding products, baking and mix powders, hot cereals, pasta, and skillet dinners, among others.

Trustmark Corporation

Trustmark is a bank holding company. Through its subsidiary, Trustmark National Bank (TNB), the company provides banking and other financial solutions. The company's segments are: General Banking, which provides banking products and services, including loans and deposits; Wealth Management, which provides customized solutions for customers by integrating financial services with banking products and services such as money management, brokerage, financial planning, personal and institutional trust and retirement services; and Insurance, which provides a range of retail insurance products including commercial risk management products, bonding, group benefits and personal lines coverage.

United Airlines Holdings Inc.

United Airlines Holdings is a holding company and its principal, wholly-owned subsidiary is United Airlines, Inc. (United). The company is engaged in the transportation of people and cargo throughout North America and to destinations in Asia, Europe, Africa, the Pacific, the Middle East and Latin America. The company, through United and its regional carriers, operates flights to airports, with its hubs at Newark Liberty International Airport, Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Denver International Airport, George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, A.B. Won Pat International Airport, San Francisco International Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport.

United States Steel Corporation

United States Steel is a steel producer of flat-rolled and tubular products with production operations in the United States and Europe. The company is also engaged in railroad services and real estate operations. The company's segments are: North American Flat-Rolled, which produces slabs, strip mill plates, sheets and tin mill products; U. S. Steel Europe, which produces and sells slabs, strip mill plate, sheet, tin mill products and spiral welded pipe, as well as heating radiators and refractory ceramic materials; and Tubular Products, which produces and sells electric resistance welded steel casing and tubing (known as oil country tubular goods), and standard and line pipe and mechanical tubing.

Wabash National Corporation

Wabash National provides solutions for the transportation, logistics, and distribution industries. The company's segments are: Commercial Trailer Products, which designs and manufactures dry and refrigerated vans, platform trailers and other transportation related equipment; Diversified Products, which designs and manufactures liquid transportation systems, isolators, stationary silos and downflow booths, and various proprietary products, including a line of aerodynamic solutions to improve overall trailer aerodynamics and fuel economy; and Final Mile Products, which designs and manufactures cutaway and dry-freight van bodies and refrigerated and stake bodies.

Williams Companies Inc.

Williams Companies is an energy infrastructure company focused on connecting North America's hydrocarbon resource plays to markets for natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs) through its gas pipeline and midstream business. The company's segments are: Transmission & Gulf of Mexico, which includes the company's subsidiary, Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC, an interstate natural gas pipeline that extends from the Gulf of Mexico to the eastern seaboard; Northeast G&P, which includes the company's natural gas gathering, compression, processing, and NGL fractionation businesses; and West, which includes the company's interstate natural gas pipeline.

Provider
Vermilion Research
Vermilion Research

Vermilion Research delivers timely, actionable, and unique research inputs to professional investors. Our research strategists highlight securities which we believe are at major inflection points, based on our various proprietary technical indicators, and offer asymmetric risk/return profiles. We believe our research methodology, which is not limited by industry sector or market capitalization, enables us to deliver superior investment recommendations.

Our process begins by organizing all actively traded stocks into coherent sectors, then into logical industry groups. We then apply our proprietary relative strength tools to identify developing price trends. Once attractive trends are identified within a selected sectors or groups, we screen for individual stocks which we believe offer the best risk/reward profile. Vermilion offers U.S. and global equity market research products. Vermilion’s research team, which has received numerous awards and accolades, has a combined 70 year of experience in the analysis of investment securities.

Analysts
Dave Nicoski

Ross LaDuke

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