Solarcity Inks 100 Store Deal with Whole Foods

This is really big news for Solarcity. The granola eating hipsters at Whole Foods inked a deal to retrofit 100 of their grass fed stores with Solarcities panels. More importantly, and this goes without saying, this could lead the way towards retrofitting all 431 stores.

If successful at Whole Foods, I could see Howard Shultz from Starbucks getting shamed, with his enormous carbon footprint, into doing a similar deal.

Via Briefing.com

The plan aims to increase the production of solar power and offset some need for traditional grid power while helping Whole Foods Market (WFM) save money.

In total, WFM plans to retrofit up to 100 stores with rooftop solar. SolarCity, America’s #1 solar power provider, will deliver solar power services for many stores across the Whole Foods Market portfolio, in locations such as Connecticut, New Jersey and New York. SolarCity will custom design each solar power system to maximize the amount of grid power offset and expects to begin installation this spring.

SCTY is up on the news.

It’s over. Tepper wins again.

The inability of SUNE to close the deal caused Vivint to back out and terminate.

Epic merge fail.

06:01 | VSLR | (5.21)
Vivint Solar terminates merger agreement with SunEdison (SUNE)
The co stated that it delivered a letter to SunEdison (SUNE) last night notifying it that, as a result of SunEdison’s failure to meet its obligations under the merger agreement pursuant to which the Company was to have been acquired by SunEdison, Vivint Solar has terminated such agreement.

In particular, SunEdison’s failure to consummate the merger when required pursuant to the terms of the merger agreement constitutes a willful breach of the merger agreement, and Vivint Solar intends to seek all legal remedies available to it in respect of such willful breach.

SUNE is racing higher. VSLR, not so much.

The benevolent bastards from Goldman are out like vampires tonight, suggesting that you interrupt your wives in mid sleep to get permission to sell short copper now, for this rally is built on bullshit.

“With prices rising significantly, and with the structural case for base metals remaining very poor we recommend producers and investors with longer-term horizons begin implementing hedging strategies and consider short positions in copper and aluminium over the coming month,” the Goldman analysts wrote in the report.

Price Jump

Copper on the London Metal Exchange was at $4,943 a metric ton by 12:16 p.m. in Singapore, up about 14 percent from a low in mid-January. Aluminum was at $1,589 a ton, up about 10 percent since Jan. 12.

In Goldman’s 12-month view, copper may drop to $4,000 a ton and aluminum will probably slide to $1,350, according to the report. Deleveraging in China and emerging markets, further dollar strength, mining cost deflation and strong supply growth, particularly in copper because of a prior boom in capital expenditure, are set to keep “capex-heavy” metals prices under pressure over the coming year, the bank said.

“Overall we find that the likelihood of a sustained improvement in Chinese demand during 2016/17 is low,” the analysts wrote.

They’re not fans of the reflation trade, nor do they find it in the least bit amusing by which investors are comporting themselves, slobbering over rakish balance sheets.

My guess, they probably were rejected as lead underwriter on the Freeport McMoran secondary thst is most assuredly coming.

These numbers were so bad the Ghost of Christmas past will be visiting the Chinese premier this evening.

Things are getting real greasy down in doggie hell, as the piece of shit, nefarious, goods out from China get rejected around the globe.

Overseas shipments tumbled 25.4 percent in U.S. dollar terms from a year earlier, the customs administration said on Tuesday, compared with a 11.2 percent drop in January. Imports extended a streak of declines to 16 months, slumping 13.8 percent, leaving a trade surplus of $32.6 billion.

A slowdown in global trade is making it harder for China’s leaders, who are gathered in Beijing this week to set the nation’s economic plans, to keep growth at the targeted 6.5 percent to 7 percent range. Reflecting the uncertainties, the government didn’t set a specific target for trade at the annual congress meeting after it failed to meet the goal last year.

“The government has formally recognized that foreign trade growth rate is not something the government can and should control,” analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. including Song Yu wrote in a note ahead of the trade release.

I know, I know. H. Clinton is gonna make America whole again and the crazy fucking Mexicans are going to lead America to the promise land, one rogue vagrant at a time.

Meanwhile, the world burns.

S&P futures are off 10.

Both China and Japan: sharply lower.

Good evening.

Cramer touched upon what I’ve been predicting will happen, now that energy stocks have rallied: they’re gonna start issuing superfluous amounts of stock in dilutive share offerings in order to save themselves from bankruptcy.

Cramer likens this action to the financial crisis of 2008, when all of the banks diluted with massive offerings in order to raise capital.

“Just like the banks did massive equity offerings in the bad old days of the Great Recession, they too got saved. This is the same thing.”
-Jim Cramer

For instance, Marathon Oil was once one of the top players in the oil patch. In 2015, it lost a striking $3.26 per share, and investors turned the stock into a pariah over concerns with its debt. Oil roared up to $33 at the end of February, which brought Marathon back to $8.23

But on Feb. 29, 2016, the company announced an equity offering of 135 million shares at a substantial discount to its last sale. The discount was so big that institutions flocked to it, and the company was able to sell an extra 10 million shares.

The stock has not looked back since.
“That is phenomenal,” Cramer said.

“The former is why the stocks can pop so much — consider it an instant steroid that makes them better. The latter is why the banks can rally as they have,” Cramer said.

With the success of oil companies issuing equity and so many buyers making money from the deals, Cramer suspects it could happen to pretty much any player in the oil patch. He compared the success of these secondary offerings to an IPO.

He could even see a company like Chesapeake, which owes billions in debt, could pull a Marathon and raise money to cover its debt that could come due in the next few years.

These extraordinary moves are not just limited to oil. Cramer has seen big moves happening in other commodities such as iron ore, which rallied 19 percent in one session following the Chinese government’s announcement of aggressive goals for growth over the weekend.

“I bet Freeport could easily sell 100 million shares and eliminate any near-term liquidity concerns, which would, again, allow the stock to climb ever higher. The virtuous circle at work,” Cramer said.

Cramer does have concerns with the recent run in commodities, though. It is based on commodity prices rising, and he does not think that is going to happen.

However, considering the way these companies have managed to stay afloat with the secondaries, it could mean that the worst is over for commodity stocks that have moved above the $2 to $3 range.

“Just like the banks did massive equity offerings in the bad old days of the Great Recession, they, too, got saved. This is the same thing,” Cramer said.

The only problem with comparing the real fundamental impediments of the oil patch to the crisis of confidence which caused banks to raise capital in 2008, is that the former cannot paper over losses and then get back to business as usual. For the most part, after banks raised capital in 2008-2009, and the panic has passed, it was business as usual for them.

The fucking oil companies are beholden to a commodity that is going to give them fits for years. While CHK might take this opportunity to raise capital via secondary to pay down some debt, the quarterly losses will still mount, henceforth, and the stock will still languish because there won’t be any meaningful growth or free cash flow present to buttress the stocks.

This is an apples to oranges comparison. However, should the major debt traps successfully raise much needed capital, regardless of whether their businesses have improved or not, I suspect the shares will eventually rally– celebrating survival over assured destruction.

I told you those little weasel investment bankers were working long hours this weekend to price deals.

PDCE is one of the few companies who smartly hedged most of their production before the collapse. As such, the pricing of this deal was nothing short of a dunk shot. Even so, and especially after today’s rally in energy stocks, I’d be shocked if the market was not flooded with spate of offerings this week.

If you run an energy company with lots of debt and do not price a secondary this week, you should be fired.

Via Briefing.com as per PDCE’s statement:

The net proceeds from this offering will be used to repay the principal amounts owed upon the maturity of the Company’s 3.25% convertible senior notes due in May 2016 and for general corporate purposes, which may include repaying amounts borrowed under the Company’s revolving credit facility.

These are hamburger assholes. You cannot trust anyone who sells wares designed to cause cardiac events in its customers.

“Come eat at our restaurant. Increase your weight, while decreasing your life expectancy.”

SHAK is my sole common stock position in my personal account, but the size is small like Marco Rubio’s vote total.

SHAK is getting its face pressed to the griddle in the after hours, following an earnings beat and reporting same store sales of +11%, which is outrageously great.

Nevertheless, people don’t give a shit.

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.08 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.07; revenues rose 46.8% year/year to $51.1 mln vs the $50.09 mln Capital IQ Consensus.

Same-Shack sales increased 11.0% for Q4 vs. ests near +7%, on a calendar basis, versus 7.2% growth in the fourth quarter last year.

Co issues in-line guidance for FY16, sees FY16 revs of $237-242 mln vs. $240.54 mln Capital IQ Consensus; same shack sales +2.5-3.0% vs. estimates just above +3%; 13 new domestic Shacks and seven new licensed Shacks.

Short sellers were entreated to another squeeze towards the end of the day. The Dow closed higher by more than 60, the SPY was flat and the Nasdaq rebounded from a -40 deficit to close down just 8.

Timing tops is a mind numbingly difficult chore.

Oil continued to soar throughout the day, up 5.5%–paving the way for an astounding rally in oil related stocks, many of which roared higher by 20%.

For the month, the commodity sector has been a prime performer in the market. The CRB index has been powering forward with relentless fervor.

Bottom line: markets should avoid cataclysm until May, at which point the gates of hell will be opened and stocks will suffer immeasurably horrible fates.

Have you ever heard of the phrase ‘blow off top?’

In terrific fashion, markets reversed higher this morning following moderate losses. After the rogue degeneracy of small capped traders was laid bare in front of the world to see, the muppet masters pulled the rug and we’re now descending into hell.

I will reiterate my position that the correct trade is to sell here. Timing tops is a very hard thing to do, much more than bottoms. Despair and fear are actionable against because they dissipate and are counter to the basic human emotion that is optimism. Trying to time tops, however, is equal to knowing when a sociopath with stop making friends, a whore pulling new tricks or a savage army of zealots deciding to make peace. Betting against human excess and their right to MOAR is hard. That’s my point.

Nevertheless, and I hate to sound cliche here, but no one ever got hurt taking profits or leaving the party early. You can, however, find yourselves in grave danger waiting until the end of the party, when all of the drunkards quarrel with one another, trying to shoot each other in the face for stepping on each other’s shoes.

I’d be a net seller here in every way imaginable, save treasuries.

Note to self number 398:

It’s always bleakest just before the sun rises.

It’s always easy to see these things in hindsight, naturally. Heretofore, these stocks couldn’t catch a bid; now there impervious to selling.

Brent crude has broken through the mystical and all unimportant barrier of $40.

There isn’t much else to say, other than congratulations to all of the expert traders on the internets who bought the bottom and will assuredly sell the top.