Analyst Downgrades: Nike Inc, LendingClub Corp, and Werner Enterprises, Inc.

Analysts downwardly revised their ratings and price targets on Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), LendingClub Corp (NYSE:LC), and Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN)

Josh Selway

Jun 21, 2016 at 9:46 AM

WERN
NKE
LC

Analysts are weighing in on athletic apparel giant Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), financial stock LendingClub Corp (NYSE:LC), and transportation firm Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN). Here's a quick roundup of today's bearish brokerage notes on NKE, LC, and WERN.

NKE is getting hit with bearish brokerage attention for the second straight day, with Jefferies cutting its price target to $67. This still represents a 23% premium to the stock's most recent price of $54.59. The shares are up 0.4% this morning and are a hair above their year-over-year breakeven mark, but have struggled in 2016 -- losing close to 13%. Options traders are betting against Nike Inc in the meantime, with the stock's 10-day put/call volume ratio at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) standing at 1.46 -- in the 86th annual percentile. Looking ahead, the company will release earnings a week from tonight.

LC may have some trouble topping the $5 level -- where it closed last night, and home to its descending 40-day moving average -- after Goldman Sachs cut its price target to $4.30 from $4.40. The stock has edged 1.2% lower to trade at $4.94, which is just more of the same for the scandal-plagued shares. Despite the stock's sharp long-term losses, short interest has actually been falling on LendingClub Corp. In fact, short interest fell by one-third during the last two reporting periods.

WERN is selling off this morning, down 9.7% at $22.28, after the company announced a disappointing second-quarter profit outlook. Making matters worse, J.P. Morgan Securities, BofA-Merrill Lynch, and Deutsche Bank downgraded their ratings, while the latter was one of at least 10 analysts to slash its price target. Today's price action puts Werner Enterprises, Inc. back in the red on a year-to-date basis, which is likely perfect for short-term options traders. Specifically, WERN's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 4.77 marks a put-skewed extreme, ranking in the 100th annual percentile.

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