Shares of Focus Media Holding (FMCN: sentiment, chart, options) have fallen roughly $5 after stepping into the earnings spotlight. The Chinese advertising firm last night reported a first-quarter loss of $53.8 million, or 42 cents per American Depositary Share, compared to a profit of $16.3 million, or 21 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding charges, earnings docked at 34 cents per share, while revenue more than tripled to $161.6 million. Analysts had forecast first-quarter earnings (excluding items) of 33 cents per ADR on sales of $162 million.

What's more, the company stated that it now expects second-quarter earnings to fall below expectations. FMCN now predicts 2Q profit of 40 cents to 41 cents per share, on sales of $190 million to $195 million; analysts, on average, expect quarterly profit of 46 cents per ADR on sales of $201.9 million. The firm also lowered its fiscal-year sales outlook to between $820 million and $850 million, compared to previous predictions of $860 million to $890 million; the Street is calling for full-year sales of $882.2 million.

As a result of the news, the shares of FMCN are hovering near the 31.70 level, more than 14% below yesterday's close. As I noted in a recent edition of Short Interest Report, the Street was bullish heading into the report. However, some analysts are beginning to change their tunes, including Oppenheimer's Jason Helfstein, who cut his price target on the equity to $50 from $63.

Meanwhile, options players are beginning to reconsider their optimistic expectations, too. The stock's SOIR jumped from 0.39 (in the 12th annual percentile) on May 30 to its current perch at 0.78 (in the 92nd annual percentile). In today's trading, bearish bets are the preference amongst near-term options speculators, with the stock's June 35 and 40 puts seeing a combined volume of roughly 13,000 contracts cross the tape so far today.