Stocks are trading mixed during the last trading day of the year. A few names making big moves are tech issue Energous Corp (NASDAQ:WATT), biotech Atara Biotherapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ATRA), and bank stock Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS). Let's see what's moving shares of WATT, ATRA, and GS.
After two gigantic up days, Energous stock is trading 15.2% lower at $26.76, due in part to a tweet from short seller Citron Research saying the company "has a history of deception" and that the shares will fall to $15. However, that price target is still well above where WATT was trading before a regulatory nod sent it soaring earlier this week. While the security has landed on the short-sale restricted list today, its current price would still mark its second highest close ever.
Speaking of short sellers, these bears control almost 30% off the available float for Energous, which equates to more than three weeks' worth of buying power, going by average daily volumes. That's even after a 12.2% decline in the last two reporting periods.
Atara Biotherapeutics stock is exploding today, thanks to news the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given the company permission to perform two late-stage trials on tabelecleucel for patients with the Epstein-Barr virus. ATRA shares were last seen trading up 25.2% at $19.10, making it one of the top Nasdaq stocks today, as it goes for its best single session performance ever. The news and price action could attract new analyst attention, too. As it stands now just two brokerage firms are in coverage on Atara, and both say it's a "strong buy."
Goldman Sachs stock has recovered a good chunk of its earlier losses, but remains 0.3% lower at $255.79, after the company said tax reform could lower its fourth-quarter earnings by $5 billion. As such, GS shares are set to snap a four-week winning streak, pulling back further from their Dec. 22 all-time high of $262.14.
Options traders could be disappointed in the weak price action, though. That's because data from the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) shows a 10-day call/put volume ratio of 2.00, which ranks in the 85th annual percentile. Said simply, call buying has been unusually popular lately.