Analyst Downgrades: SolarCity, Garmin, and EOG Resources

Analysts are weighing in today on alternative energy concern SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY), navigational device maker Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN), and commodity concern EOG Resources Inc (NYSE:EOG). Here's a quick roundup of today's bearish brokerage notes on SCTY, GRMN, and EOG.

• SCTY fell 5.8% out of the gate to $53.77, as a fourth-quarter earnings miss brought on a price target cut from Baird. The brokerage firm reduced its price target by $7 to $76, but kept its "outperform" rating on the shares. Most analysts are still bullish on the stock, with six of seven covering brokerage firms calling it a "buy" or better. Elsewhere, however, option traders have priced in plenty of pessimism. SolarCity Corp's 10-day International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) put/call volume ratio is 1.44, which ranks higher than 95% of all such readings from the past year. Echoing this sentiment is SCTY's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.38, an annual high.


• GRMN dropped nearly 11% yesterday, after reporting worse-than-expected fourth-quarter numbers. Today, the equity is trying to find its footing, but is still off 0.8% in early trading to land at $50.28. The shares are struggling amid a round of bearish brokerage notes. For example, Citigroup and Credit Suisse each cut their price targets by $2, to $68 and $54, respectively, while D.A. Davidson and RBC cut their price targets by $5 to $55 and $62, respectively. Garmin Ltd. has underperformed the broader S&P 500 Index (SPX) by nearly 16 percentage points in the past three months, so it's no surprise to see it has attracted heavy short interest. Specifically, over 17% of GRMN's float is sold short, representing more than 16 times the stock's average daily volume.


• EOG is off 4.6% at $90.96, due to fourth-quarter earnings numbers that were way below expectations. The drop puts the shares in negative territory on a year-to-date basis. In the past two weeks at the ISE, CBOE, and PHLX, speculators have been extremely bearish toward EOG Resources Inc. The stock's 10-day put/call volume ratio across those exchanges comes in at 3.06 -- an annual bearish peak. Although 73% of covering analysts call EOG a "buy" or better, Citigroup waxed pessimistic on the stock this morning, cutting its outlook to "neutral" from "buy," and lowering its price target to $96.