This morning, Cooper Tire & Rubber (CTB: sentiment, chart, options) announced first-quarter earnings of $1.69 million, or 3 cents per share, compared to its year-ago profit of $20.8 million, or 33 cents per share. The company stated that its results were hurt by increased raw material costs, increased products liability costs and decreased volumes in North America. Earnings from continuing operations fell to $1.34 million, or 2 cents per share, while sales rose 1.5% to $679.3 million. Analysts had predicted a profit of 10 cents per share on revenue of $680.4 million. Cooper Tire said sales in its North American tire business slipped 3%, while international sales rose 27%.

The stock has plunged more than 6% this afternoon, falling to a new 52-week low of $12.74. Since reaching a peak of $20.80 in February, the security has steadily retreated under resistance at its 10-day and 20-day moving averages, dropping more than 38%.

Despite the company's weak performance, short-term options speculators had high hopes for the stock. The Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio for CTB stands at 0.55, as call open interest nearly doubles puts open interest. What's more, this reading is lower than 87% of al those taken during the past 52 weeks. This lingering optimism, mixed with the security's weak fundamental and technical performance, has bearish implications from a contrarian perspective.