Analyst Downgrades: Herbalife Ltd., eBay Inc, and Pandora Media Inc

Analysts are weighing in today on nutritional supplements maker Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF), online auctioneer eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY), and streaming music provider Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P). Here's a quick roundup of today's bearish brokerage notes on HLF, EBAY, and P.

• HLF is up 2.1% at $40.77, shrugging off a price-target cut to $74 from $80 at Barclays (which also maintained an "overweight" opinion). From a longer-term perspective, Herbalife Ltd. shares are still 48% lower year-to-date, and touched a new annual low of $36.97 on Nov. 12. In fact, HLF has shed roughly 22% of its value in November, due to a negative earnings reaction on Nov. 4. As such, it's not surprising to find pessimism running high in the options pits. The stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) sits at an annual peak of 2.69, implying that short-term traders haven't been more put-heavy during the past year.


• EBAY is flirting with breakeven at $54.54, as a global rally is helping to offset negative analyst attention. Specifically, Evercore ISI downgraded EBAY to "sell" from "neutral," and cut its price target to $49 from $52. Most analysts are already in eBay Inc's bearish camp, as 17 out of 29 maintain "hold" or worse opinions. In the same vein, 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 at 0.96 -- just 5 percentage points from an annual high. In other words, option buyers have shown a healthier-than-usual appetite for bearish bets over bullish of late. On the charts, EBAY is just south of its year-to-date breakeven marker, and is testing support atop its 10-day moving average.


• Finally, P is bucking the broad-market trend higher, down 0.2% at $19.37. Weighing on the shares is a price-target cut to $32 from $40 at BMO, though the brokerage firm upheld an "outperform" rating. Pandora Media Inc has dropped 27.1% in 2014, and hit an annual low of $17.55 earlier this month. Recent rebound attempts have stalled in the face of the stock's 10-week moving average, yet option buyers maintain rose-colored glasses. The security's 10-day ISE/CBOE/PHLX call/put volume ratio of 4.52 stands higher than 96% of comparable readings from the past year, pointing to accelerated call buying over put buying of late. What's more, additional bearish brokerage revisions could be in store, as 18 out of 25 analysts offer up "buy" or better opinions.