U.S. stocks are mixed this morning, after the latest round of blue-chip earnings. While fast-food chain McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD) seems to be bucking the negative earnings trend, biotech Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) and retailer Sears Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:SHLD) are also among today's equities in focus.

• Dow stock MCD is 0.7% higher at $126.70 -- eyeing yet another all-time high -- after first-quarter earnings exceeded expectations, thanks in large part to the success of all-day breakfast. McDonald's Corporation hit a record peak of $129.80 earlier this week, but could soar even higher with an unwinding of bearish sentiment. More than 60% of analysts still recommend holding or selling the stock. This morning, in fact, Nomura boosted its price target on the shares to $142 from $138. And in the options pits, traders have been more skeptical than usual. A capitulation from option bears could create fresh tailwinds for MCD stock.

• VRX is 7% higher at $36.68, after The Wall Street Journal said the firm plans to name Joseph Papa -- current head of Perrigo Company plc Ordinary Shares (NYSE:PRGO) -- as its next CEO. The company reported in March that it would replace scandal-ridden CEO Michael Pearson, but has not yet commented on the Papa speculation. Technically, Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc has given up roughly 86% since topping out at a record high of $263.81 last August. While option traders may be eyeing a bounce, analysts are far from optimistic, with 11 out of 17 rating the equity a "hold" or "strong sell."

• SHLD has popped 2.5% to $18.46 on reports that it will shutter 78 stores -- about 5% of its total store base -- between late July and mid-September this year. According to CEO Eddie Lampert, this is a result of "aggressive actions" the firm must take to "restore Sears Holdings to profitability." The stock is off 10% year-to-date, hitting a 12-year low of $14.05 just weeks ago, and has been more recently been running into resistance at its 120-day moving average. Option traders, meanwhile, have shown a distinct preference for long calls over puts of late. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), Sears Holdings Corp has a 10-day call/put volume ratio of 4.59 -- higher than 83% of all readings in the last 12 months.

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Cybersecurity stock FireEye Inc (NASDAQ:FEYE) has jumped 5.9% to $17.84 amid heavy volume, following an upgrade to "positive" at OTR Global. What's more, activity has picked up in FEYE's options pits, where it appears traders are betting on the stock breaking out to the upside over the next two weeks. 

More specifically, FEYE call options are trading at four times the average intraday pace, outstripping puts by a 6-to-1 margin. Weekly options account for the top 10 most popular strikes, with possible buy-to-open activity taking place at the weekly 5/6 20-strike call. Any trader initiating long positions here is betting on FEYE topping $20 by expiration at the close on Friday, May 6 -- a time frame that neatly encompasses the company's first-quarter earnings report, scheduled for the evening of Thursday, May 5. 

Call buyers have had their sights set on FEYE for a while, though. For instance, more than five calls have been bought to open for every put during the past two weeks at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). The resulting call/put volume ratio of 5.11 lands in the 83rd percentile of its annual range, meaning this interest in calls over puts is unusual. 

It's not a bad time to buy premium on FEYE options, either. The stock's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 74% ranks in the bottom third of all readings taken in the past 12 months. Said differently, the stock's near-term options are attractively priced, from a volatility perspective. 

On the charts, FireEye Inc (NASDAQ:FEYE) has surged more than 57% since hitting a record low of $11.35 in mid-February, and  with earnings approaching, the stock may be set to make another outsized move. For instance, FEYE has averaged a 12.3% swing in the session immediately following an earnings release, going back eight quarters. As for today's surge, bulls should be happy to note that the stock is attempting to take back its rising 40-day moving average. 

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McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD) closed down 2.2% at $125.79 today, pulling back from a new all-time high of $129.80, tapped Wednesday. The stock has been riding higher atop its 10-day moving average since early March, and could find additional support in the form of its 30-day moving average -- previously a level of resistance for the shares. Heading into tomorrow morning's earnings report, however, options traders and analysts appear skeptical that the equity can take its rally to new heights.

With its latest push upward, MCD earned a 14-day Relative Strength index (RSI) of 69 -- just on the edge of "overbought" territory, meaning today's breather may have been due for the soaring shares. But despite a series of higher highs in recent months, 14 out of 23 analysts still rate the equity a "hold" or worse.

And in the options pits, traders have been busy betting against MCD in recent weeks. The stock's 10-day put/call volume ratio on the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) sits just 1 percentage point from an annual peak, at 3.02. Echoing this bearish sentiment is MCD's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.31 -- higher than 94% of all readings in the past year. That means near-term traders have been unusually put-heavy of late.

And with first-quarter earnings in focus, the options market is pricing in a one-day post-earnings swing of 3.8%, according to near-term at-the-money straddle data. This represents a slightly larger move than the average 2% change seen after earnings over the past eight quarters. But should McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD) pull out another earnings beat, an unwinding of bearish sentiment could send the shares into never-before-seen territory once again.

Earnings season will continue plugging along next week, with no fewer than seven Dow components set to hit the stage, including Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). A number of other tech heavyweighs are scheduled to report earnings, as well, such as Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN). Meanwhile, all eyes will be on the two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting -- which will culminate with its highly anticipated policy announcement on Wednesday afternoon -- as well as the first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP).

Below is a brief list of some key market events scheduled for the upcoming week. All earnings dates listed below are tentative and subject to change. Please check with each company's respective website for official reporting dates.

Monday, April 25

The week kicks off with new home sales data and the Dallas Fed manufacturing survey. On the earnings front, Express Scripts (ESRX), Halliburton (HAL), Sohu.com (SOHU), and Xerox (XRX) will tell all.

Tuesday, April 26

The FOMC policy meeting gets underway on Tuesday. On the data front, durable goods orders, the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index, and the Conference Board's consumer confidence survey are due out.

Companies reporting earnings include 3M (MMM), AAPL, DuPont (DD), Procter & Gamble (PG), Aflac (AFL), Akamai Technologies (AKAM), AK Steel (AKS), AT&T (T), Barrick Gold (ABX), Bloomin' Brands (BLMN), Boyd Gaming (BYD), Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD), Capital One Financial (COF), Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), Cirrus Logic (CRUS), Coach (COH), Corning (GLW), Cree (CREE), eBay (EBAY), Eli Lilly (LLY), Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCAU), Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), JetBlue Airways (JBLU), Lockheed Martin (LMT), Office Depot (ODP), Panera Bread (PNRA), Reynolds American (RAI), Southern (SO), Spirit Airlines (SAVE), Twitter (TWTR), and United States Steel (X).

Wednesday, April 27

On Wednesday, the international trade balance, the pending home sales index, and the regularly scheduled crude inventories report will be released. Also, the FOMC policy announcement is set for 2 p.m. ET.

Turning to corporate earnings, the Street expects to hear from Boeing (BA), Anthem (ANTM), Boston Scientific (BSX), Comcast (CMCSA), Dr. Pepper Snapple (DPS), FB, First Solar (FSLR), Garmin (GRMN), Hilton Worldwide (HLT), Marriott International (MAR), Mondelez (MDLZ), Northrop Grumman (NOC), O'Reilly Automotive (ORLY), Owens Corning (OC), PayPal (PYPL), Texas Instruments (TXN), and Xilinx (XLNX).

Thursday, April 28

The advance reading on first-quarter GDP and weekly jobless claims will be the main highlights on Thursday. AbbVie (ABBV), Aetna (AET), AMZN, Baidu (BIDU), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF), Colgate-Palmolive (CL), ConocoPhillips (COP), Domino's Pizza (DPZ), Dow Chemical (DOW), Ford Motor (F), Gilead Sciences (GILD), Groupon (GRPN), LinkedIn (LNKD), MasterCard (MA), Pandora Media (P), Patterson-UTI Energy (PTEN), Raytheon (RTN), Skyworks Solutions (SWKS), Sony (SNE), Thermo Fisher Dynamics (TMO), Time Warner Cable (TWC), United Parcel Service (UPS), Viacom (VIAB), Waste Management (WM), and Western Digital (WDC) will report earnings.

Friday, April 29

The economic docket winds down Friday with personal income and spending data, the employment cost index, the Chicago purchasing managers index (PMI), and the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey. Hitting the earnings confessional will be Chevron (CVX), Exxon Mobil (XOM), AstraZeneca (AZN), Immunogen (IMGN), Seagate Technology (STX), Tyco International (TYC), and VF Corp (VFC).

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It was a mixed end to the week for Asian stocks. Japan's Nikkei drove higher for the fourth time in five sessions, popping 1.2% on continued weakness in the yen -- ahead of next week's Bank of Japan (BoJ) meeting, with Bloomberg reporting the central bank could be poised to drop rates on bank loans into negative territory. Also finishing on the positive side of the ledger was China's Shanghai Composite, which added 0.2%, but still logged a 3.9% weekly decline. On the other hand, Hong Kong's Hang Seng and South Korea's Kospi ended lower, giving up a respective 0.7% and 0.3%.

European markets are lower, pressured by a stateside sell-off, a disappointing eurozone purchasing managers index (PMI) reading, and a slump among automaker and mining stocks. While France's PMI edged higher from the prior month, the French CAC 40 was last seen 0.3% lower. Germany's DAX is likewise down 0.4%, following a month-over-month dip in business activity and a 6.5% drop in shares of Daimler on news of a U.S. emissions probe. Rounding things out, London's FTSE 100 has slumped 1.1%.

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With blue-chip earnings still in focus, industrial giant General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) is set to enter the earnings confessional tomorrow morning. But first, semiconductor maker Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) will step up to the plate, reporting its first-quarter results after the close tonight. Below, we'll examine expectations for AMD and GE as they gear up for earnings.

AMD enjoyed a huge rally from February through March, adding 60% in just over a month to hit a 2016 high of $2.93 on March 30. However, the shares have been trending lower since, backing down from their 30-month moving average -- which has been capping rally attempts since mid-2014. Still, AMD could find an ally in its 40-day moving average earlier this week -- a level that supported AMD through much of late 2015. 

Analysts are far from optimistic, with 14 out of 18 rating AMD a "hold" or worse. And though short interest fell nearly 19% during the most recent two-week reporting period, these bearish bets still account for 17% of the equity's total float. At AMD's average daily volume, it would take about eight sessions for short sellers to cover their remaining positions.

Looking back, the stock has posted a negative one-day post-earnings return for the past four quarters in a row, with an average single-session move of 8% over the last eight quarters. Today, the options market is pricing in a much larger post-earnings swing of 16%, per Trade-Alert at-the-money straddle data.

Near-term traders have been unusually call-heavy lately, with AMD's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.33 ranking lower than 89% of the past year's readings. But puts are easily outpacing calls so far this morning, with one trader seemingly buying a block of 20,000 May 2.50 puts for $0.14 apiece, or $280,000 (ask price x 100 shares per contract x 20,000 contracts). The buyer will make money if AMD breaches $2.36 (strike minus premium paid) by the close on Friday, May 20, when the options expire. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) was last seen trading down 2.2% at $2.64.

GE notched a seven-year high of $32.05 in late March, but has since pulled back to support at its 30-day moving average and year-to-date breakeven level. The stock was last seen down 0.2% at $31.08. 

Brokerage firms are split in their opinions, with half calling the stock a "hold" while the other half offer "buy" or better ratings. Short interest on GE has been climbing -- up 36.7% in the most recent reporting period alone -- but still accounts for less than 2% of the equity's available float.

Overall, option traders have been moderately bearish in recent weeks. GE's 10-day put/call volume ratio of 0.86 on the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) sits above two-thirds of all comparable readings in the last 12 months. And the security's post-earnings moves have historically been modest -- averaging a one-day swing of just 1.4% over the past eight quarters. According to near-term at-the-money straddle data, options are currently pricing in a slightly bigger post-earnings change of 2.5%.

Today, puts are more than tripling calls in GE's options pits. And near-term option buyers are likely getting a good deal ahead of earnings. General Electric Company's (NYSE:GE) Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 15% rests in 8th percentile of its annual range, meaning the stock's short-term options should be attractively priced, from a volatility perspective.

It's no secret U.S. stocks have been on a tear, with the S&P 500 Index (SPX) notching the second-largest quarterly comeback on record in the first quarter. Moreover, the SPX and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) both enjoyed their best close of 2016 on Wednesday. Going from this settlement at 2,102.40, the SPX has added 13.4% over the past 50 sessions. Is that too far, too fast?

Obviously, this type of furious rally is uncommon. According to Schaeffer's Quantitative Analyst Chris Prybal, the SPX's recent push marks just the 29th time it's jumped over 13% in a 50-day stretch since 1972. What's more, this is the first time this signal has flared since February 2012 -- the start of a massive three-year surge. 

Looking back to 1972, the SPX has tended to outperform its "anytime" returns following one of these signals, according to Prybal's research. The only outlier is the 10-day post-signal return, which is flat, compared to the anytime return of 0.3%. 

However, if you narrow the time frame to signals seen since 2000, it's a different story. Following a signal, the large-cap index has tended to underperform considerably in the short term, compared to its anytime returns. Most notably, the SPX has averaged a 10-day post-signal loss of 1.4%, compared to a 0.2% anytime gain, while averaging a 42-day post-signal return of negative 0.2%, compared to an anytime return of 0.6%. 

However, there's a big jump at the 126-day (six-month) marker, when the post-signal average return hits 4.7%, more than doubling the comparable anytime return of 1.8%. In the same vein, the SPX has been 7% higher, on average, one year after a signal since 2000 -- 75% better than its anytime one-year return of 4% in the new millennium. 

Also of note: Standard deviation is lower than usual across the board after a signal since 2000, meaning lower volatility may be ahead. Considering recent history suggests the S&P 500 Index may chop lower for a couple months after this monumental rally, is it a coincidence the index is trading lower today? 

Analysts are weighing in on electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), workforce solution specialist Trueblue Inc (NYSE:TBI), and cloud services stock ServiceNow Inc (NYSE:NOW). Here's a quick roundup of today's brokerage notes on TSLA, TBI, and NOW.

• TSLA is 0.8% lower at $248.00, after Credit Suisse removed the company from its "U.S. Focus List," just after CEO Elon Musk reported that Tesla Motors Inc has received nearly 400,000 preorders for its recently unveiled Model 3. On the charts, the stock has been pulling back since hitting a year-to-date high of $269.34 earlier this month. As such, analysts have generally been unimpressed with TSLA, as nine out 15 currently rate the stock a "hold" or worse. And short sellers have been plaguing the stock, as well, with their bearish bets accounting for nearly one-third of TSLA's available float, or about seven days' worth of trading, at typical daily volumes.

• Since reporting first-quarter revenue shy of expectations last night, TBI has received a downgrade to "underperform" from BMO, which also lowered its price target to $18 from $26. Baird echoed the move, cutting its rating on TrueBlue Inc to "neutral," and its price target to $23. The shares are down 25.2% at $20.28, and fresh off a nearly three-year low of $19.71. The security had been on a strong upswing heading into earnings, but 60% of analysts still deem TBI a "hold." And while options volume runs light on the stock, puts have been the strategy of choice, with nearly four TBI puts bought to open for each call on the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) over the past two weeks.

• NOW is up 13.8% at $74.11 -- paring its year-to-date loss to 14.4% -- after the company reported higher-than-predicted quarterly earnings, resulting in no fewer than 14 price-target hikes from analysts. FBN Securities and RBC set the highest target at $90 -- a level the shares haven't seen since early December. The stock has been recovering since its late-January bear gap, and is now on pace to close atop its 200-day moving average for the first time since Jan. 12. Option traders have been more optimistic than usual as the equity has plotted higher -- at the ISE, CBOE, and PHLX, ServiceNow Inc has a 50-day call/put volume ratio of 0.72, higher than 97% of all readings in the past year.

For other stocks in analysts' crosshairs, read Analyst Upgrades: American Express Company, Yum! Brands, Inc., and Fitbit Inc and Analyst Downgrades: Mattel, Inc., Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage Inc, and Las Vegas Sands Corp.

Intrexon Corp (NYSE:XON) has plunged 26.7% to $27.00 -- and is on track for its worst single-day percentage drop since the biotech went public in August 2013. Sparking the day's sell-off is a scathing review in Seeking Alpha, which called XON the "Theranos of public markets." Against this backdrop, XON stock has been placed on the short-sale restricted list, while volume both in and out of the options arena has hit an annual high.

By the numbers, about 12.5 million shares of XON have traded today. Meanwhile, nearly 17,000 calls have changed hands on XON, compared to 7.500 puts. Most active are the June 32 put and 35 call, where it appears as if one speculator could possibly be initiating a synthetic short position. Elsewhere, sell-to-open activity may be occurring at XON's May 30 and 35 calls.

Longer term, call buying has been a popular strategy on XON in recent weeks, per data from the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). Specifically, XON's 10-day call/put volume ratio of 12.88 ranks in the 77th percentile of its annual range.

Echoing this call-skewed backdrop is XON's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.37, which sits lower than 67% of all comparable readings taken in the past year. Simply stated, short-term speculators are more call-heavy than usual toward the biotech stock. With 34% of the stock's float sold short, though, some of the recent call buying -- particularly at out-of-the-money strikes -- could be a result of shorts hedging against any upside risk.

In fact, heading into today's session, the stock had roughly doubled since hitting an annual low of $18.52 in mid-January -- although the round-$40 mark had recently rejected these advances. Today's plunge, however, has the shares of Intrexon Corp (NYSE:XON) on track to notch their lowest daily close since Jan. 27.

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Analysts are weighing in on blue chip American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), fast food stock Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM), and tech stock Fitbit Inc (NYSE:FIT). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on AXP, YUM, and FIT.

• AXP is up 2.5% ahead of the opening bell, as Wall Street weighs in after the company's better-than-expected first-quarter earnings and its first increase in revenue in five quarters. No fewer than seven brokerage firms raised their price targets on American Express Company, though three others lowered their targets. BMO was on the bullish side of things, raising its price target to $76 from $71. AXP closed Wednesday at $65.02, leaving it 6.5% below breakeven year-to-date -- though the shares yesterday topped their 120-day moving average for the first time since since August. If the blue chip extends this rally, it could benefit from additional bullish notes, considering 86% of analysts still deem it a "hold" or worse. 
  
  
• YUM is also ready to take advantage of a first-quarter earnings beat, adding 3.5% in electronic trading. The company's China division -- which it's trying to offload -- performed particularly well, with same-store sales increasing 6% on Chinese New Year chicken bucket promotions at KFC. As a result, Nomura jumped in and boosted its price target to $92 from $82. Yum! Brands, Inc. has added almost 14% since the end of March to trade at $82.53, and options traders are likely pleased. Specifically, YUM's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) stands at an annual low of 0.32, meaning short-term speculators are the most call-skewed they've been in at least 12 months. 
  
  
• FIT closed Wednesday at $17.69, bringing its month-to-date gain to 16.8%. The shares have shown signs of life since dipping below $12 in late February, adding 48.5%. Now, analysts are getting behind the stock. Cowen and Company this morning bumped its price target to $20 from $19 -- the latest in a long line of bullish notes for FIT this month. Options traders are turning bullish on Fitbit Inc, too. In fact, almost eight calls have been bought to open for every put during the past two weeks at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). 

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Analysts are weighing in on toy manufacturer Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAT), organic grocer Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage Inc (NYSE:NGVC), and casino stock Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS). Here's a quick roundup of today's bearish brokerage notes on MAT, NGVC, and INTC.

• Weak Barbie sales contributed to a bigger-than-expected first-quarter loss for MAT -- a change of pace from last quarter. The stock has dropped 8% out of the gate to trade at $30.39 -- unable to match its rival's post-earnings rally -- with Jefferies lowering its price target to $35 from $37. Still, B. Riley raised its price target on the stock to $38 -- annual-high territory -- and it's possible Mattel, Inc. could see support from the round-number $30 level going forward. If the stock does display such technical strength following a tough quarter, it could benefit from a short-squeeze. Specifically, MAT's short-interest ratio stands at 8.80, even after short interest fell by 7% in the latest two-week reporting period. 

• Analysts are slashing their expectations on NGVC, after the company announced a lackluster current-quarter forecast. RBC cut its rating on the stock to "sector perform" from "outperform," and was one of four brokerage firms to lower its price target, slashing its target to $16 from $29. Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage Inc is down 28% at $14.67 as a result, bringing its year-over-year decline to 45%. There's potential for more bearish notes to pressure the shares, too, since four of the seven brokerage firms that cover NGVC still call it a "strong buy."

• LVS has fallen 10.4% to $46.73, following the company's first-quarter earnings miss. J.P. Morgan Securities this morning downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "overweight," though it also raised its price target by $6 to $52. Meanwhile, Stifel lowered its price target to $56 from $58, while Barclays increased its target to $50 from $45. Even with this pullback, though, Las Vegas Sands Corp. is 6.5% higher in 2016, amid a rapid decline in short interest. Specifically, short interest on LVS dropped by 22.6% in the last reporting period alone -- though these bears still control three days' worth of buying power, at average daily volumes. As such, the stock could rebound quickly if shorts continue to cover. 

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U.S. stocks are attempting gains this morning, after jobless claims fell to a 42-year low. Among equities in focus today are carmaker General Motors Company (NYSE:GM), athletic apparel retailer Under Armour Inc (NYSE:UA), and biotech stock Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRPT).

• GM is 2.8% higher at $33.09, after beating analysts' predictions for first-quarter earnings. The company saw its profits more than double from the same period last year, thanks to solid domestic truck sales and improving European operations. The shares are now looking to overtake their 320-day moving average for the first time in 2016, and General Motors Company option bears could be sweating on the upbeat news. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), GM's 50-day put/call volume ratio of 0.94 sits higher than 97% of all readings in the past year.

• After reporting earnings above expectations on the Street -- helped by strong demand for its Stephen Curry shoe line -- and raising its full-year outlook, UA has soared 7.2% to $47.14. Moreover, Under Armour Inc sliced through the $44 area that's been blocking the shares' progress since late January, and is on pace to close atop its 200-day moving average for the first time since November. Short sellers may be heading for the exits if the rally continues -- nearly 15% of the stock's available float is still wrapped up in these bearish bets, accounting for 11 sessions' worth of trading, at UA's average daily pace.

• SRPT has plummeted 38% to $12.22, after comments from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suggested the company's muscular dystrophy treatment is unlikely to be approved -- essentially echoing its view from January. Sarepta Therapeutics Inc has been awaiting a decision on the drug for months, and expects the final word in late May. With today's fall, the equity has given up 68% in 2016, and analysts don't appear to have high hopes. At present, seven out of 12 brokerage firms call SRPT a "hold" or "strong sell." Plus, option bears have continued to pile on, with the stock's 10-day put/call volume ratio on the ISE, CBOE, and PHLX rising to 0.69 -- in the 90th annual percentile. And with the stock's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) still parked at a 12-month high, these option buyers are paying hefty premiums for their bets.

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