Analyst Downgrades: QUALCOMM, Inc., Sarepta Therapeutics Inc, and Johnson & Johnson

Analysts downwardly revised their ratings and price targets on QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM), Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRPT), and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Dec 14, 2016 at 9:32 AM

Analysts are weighing in on digital communications stock QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM), biotech Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRPT), and drug giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ). Here's a quick roundup of today's bearish brokerage notes on QCOM, SRPT, and JNJ.

QCOM is down 0.6% at $68.92 this morning, following a downgrade to "neutral" from "overweight" at J.P. Morgan Securities. Regardless, the stock remains 36.8% higher on a year-to-date basis, while enjoying recent support from its rising 50-day moving average. While this technical setup is promising, short-term QUALCOMM, Inc. options traders are unusually put-skewed. Specifically, QCOM's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.15 sits just 2 percentage points from an annual high.
SRPT has surrendered 2.6% to trade at $31, pressured by a price-target cut to $32 from $46 at Jefferies. The stock has fallen off sharply since late-September, when it was exploring 14-year highs well north of $60. Amid the sell-off, Sarepta Therapeutics Inc appears to be vulnerable to additional bearish brokerage attention. Ten of 14 analysts tracking the stock rate it a "buy" or better, with not a single "sell" opinion on the books.

JNJ walked away from its merger talks with Swiss biotech Actelion, and subsequently received a price-target cut to $122 from $130 at J.P. Morgan Securities. Yet, shares of Johnson & Johnson are 0.1% higher out of the gate at $116, as they continue to bounce off their 320-day moving average. A capitulation among skeptical options players could fuel the stock's upward momentum. Specifically, JNJ's SOIR of 1.79 registers a mere 11 percentage points from an annual put-skewed peak.

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