Analyst Downgrades: eBay Inc, Puma Biotechnology Inc, and Micron Technology, Inc.

Analysts downwardly revised their ratings and price targets on eBay Inc (EBAY), Puma Biotechnology Inc (PBYI), and Micron Technology, Inc. (MU)

Mar 29, 2016 at 9:57 AM

Analysts are weighing in on e-commerce stock eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY), biotech issue Puma Biotechnology Inc (NYSE:PBYI), and chipmaker Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU). Here's a quick roundup of today's bearish brokerage notes on EBAY, PBYI, and MU.

Barclays cut its rating on EBAY to "underweight" from "equal weight," and its price target to $25 from $28, noting that the stock's fundamentals look weak. As a result, eBay Inc is down 1.7% at $23.70 this morning, contributing to a 13.8% year-to-date deficit. The shares lost support from their 80-week moving average in late January, after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings, and have been trading sideways around the $24 level for more than a month. Analysts appear wary of EBAY at the moment, with 18 out of 25 rating the equity a "hold" or "sell."

PBYI is down 20% at $28.31 -- fresh off a new three-year low of $27.12 -- after RBC downgraded the stock's rating to "sector perform" from "outperform," and slashed its price target to $36 from $103. J.P. Morgan Securities offered a less harsh price-target cut, to $89 from $105, and maintained its "overweight" rating. Prompting the negative attention, Puma Biotechnology Inc said it would delay filing an application for its new breast cancer drug, after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asked for changes in how study data was analyzed. Bearish option traders may not mind today's plunge. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), traders have bought to open 5.56 PBYI puts for each call over the last 10 sessions -- a ratio higher than 93% of the past year's readings.

Needham cut its rating on MU to "underperform" from "hold" ahead of tomorrow night's fiscal second-quarter earnings report. Micron Technology, Inc. has given up more than 28% of its value in 2016 at $10.15 -- including today's 2.2% drop -- and hasn't been able to recover much ground since hitting a two-year low of $9.31 in late January. And while 62% of analysts rate the security a "buy" or better, bearish sentiment in the options pits is at a peak. MU's 10-day put/call volume ratio at the ISE, CBOE, and PHLX is in the top percentile of its annual range, at 1.36 -- and at least one trader is betting on a big drop over the next few months.

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