Sticking with the housing sector for a moment, we find that Pulte Homes (PHM: sentiment, chart, options) didn't give investors any reason to cheer this morning when it announced its quarterly results. The firm posted a second-quarter loss of $158.4 million, or 63 cents per share, compared to its year-ago loss of $507.6 million, or $2.01 per share. Revenue during the quarter dropped 20% to $1.6 billion. Meanwhile, analysts had predicted a loss of 43 cents per share on sales of $1.6 billion.

"The operating environment for homebuilding continued to deteriorate during the second quarter," Pulte Chief Executive Richard Dugas commented in a statement.

The stock has dropped more than 5% this morning on the negative news. Prior to today's news, the security had enjoyed a stellar rally, gaining more than 40% during the past several sessions. However, the rally was cut short when the stock encountered staunch resistance at its declining 10-month moving average.

Considering the stock's lengthy underperformance, it should come as no surprise that short sellers and Wall Street are extremely skeptical of the shares. Zacks reports that the stock has earned 2 "buy" ratings, 3 "holds," and 2 "sells." Meanwhile, more than 17% of the company's float has been sold short. The stock could suffer from these short sellers should they decide to add to their bearish bets today, increasing the selling pressure on the stock.