In other earnings news hitting the Street this morning, Carpenter Technology Corp. (CRS: sentiment, chart, options) reported that it expects third-quarter net income from continuing operations to come in at $1 to $1.05 per share, excluding the gain from the $145-million sale of its ceramics businesses. For the same period a year ago, CRS banked a profit of $1.27 per share and net income from continuing operations of $1.22 a share.

The firm cited lower demand in automotive, industrial, and consumer end markets as well as higher operating costs for the drop in earnings. CRS is slated to release its results on April 29.

Technically speaking, the shares are poised to gap more than 7% lower this morning, putting them below key support at the 56 level. This area halted the stock's pullback in March and April. The security is also trading below its 20-month moving average and is poised to finish its second consecutive month below this trendline a feat not accomplished since June 2003.

The stock could be hit with significant selling pressure as sentiment is extremely optimistic toward the shares. Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio stands at 0.42 and is lower than 91% of all those taken during the past 52 weeks. In other words, short-term options speculators have been more optimistically aligned toward CRS just 9% of time during the past 12 months. Wall Street is also smitten, with 4 of the 6 analysts following CRS rating it a "buy." Any downgrades could spell trouble for CRS.