Analyst Downgrades: AIG, Qualys, and NVIDIA Corp

Analysts downwardly revised their ratings on American International Group Inc (AIG), Qualys Inc (QLYS), and NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA)

Nov 3, 2015 at 9:29 AM

Analysts are weighing in on insurance company American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG), cloud concern Qualys Inc (NASDAQ:QLYS), and visual computing specialist NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA). Here's a quick roundup of today's bearish brokerage notes on AIG, QLYS, and NVDA.

AIG is receive bearish brokerage attention, after the company reported a huge earnings miss and announced plans to cut as many as 400 senior-level jobs -- amid Carl Icahn's calls for an organizational break-up. Barclays trimmed its price target to $71 from $73, while Credit Suisse cut its target to $65 from $67, helping sending the shares 3% lower pre-market. On the charts, American International Group Inc has been battling back since its most recent low of $55.24 in early October, up 15.4% at $63.74. This has prompted bullish betting on the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), where AIG has racked up a top-heavy call/put volume ratio of 6.35 -- in the 94th percentile of its annual range.

QLYS has received price-target cuts from J.P. Morgan Securities, RBC, and Wunderlich, as the company's better-than-expected third-quarter earnings are being eclipsed by a cut to its 2015 revenue outlook. Collectively, these developments have the shares 11% lower in pre-market trading. In recent weeks, Qualys Inc has been muscling higher atop its 10-day moving average, and settled yesterday at $35.89. This morning, however, the stock will likely gap well below that trendline, to test its previously supportive 60-day moving average. This is good news for short sellers. Almost 7.5% of QLYS' float is sold short, representing over six days of trading activity, at typical volumes.

Ahead of Thursday night's earnings report, NVDA is on the receiving end of some analyst negativity. Specifically, Needham cut its rating on the stock to "hold" from "buy" -- though Jefferies and and Raymond James raised their respective price targets to $34 and $33. In pre-market trading, NVIDIA Corporation is down 1.7%. Longer term, though, this is relatively minor, considering the shares have added over 43% year-to-date, and closed at $28.70 on Monday -- just 8 cents below their seven-year high from late October. NVDA's technical prowess is even more impressive, considering it's happening in the face of intense short selling. Specifically, short interest spiked 26.5% during the last report period, and now accounts for 8.5% of the equity's total float -- plenty of fuel for a potential short-covering rally.

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