Analyst Update: Black Diamond, Under Armour, The ExOne

Analysts are weighing in today on athletic equipment and apparel makers Black Diamond Inc (NASDAQ:BDE) and Under Armour Inc (NYSE:UA), as well as 3-D printing issue ExOne Co (NASDAQ:XONE). Here's a quick look at today's brokerage notes on BDE, UA, and XONE.

• BDE posted fourth-quarter earnings and announced that it is looking into selling its Black Diamond, POC Sports, and Pieps brands, prompting no fewer than five brokerage firms to revise their ratings on the equity. Drilling down, the lone downgrade came from Needham, which cut its opinion to "hold" from "buy," while D.A. Davidson and Stifel both upped their ratings to "buy." The most dramatic hike came from Canaccord Genuity, which raised its price target by $5 to $17 -- in uncharted territory for BDE -- while underscoring a "buy" rating. Today, the shares of Black Diamond Inc are up a staggering 28.5% to hit $9.06, putting the stock 3.5% in the black for 2015. Calls have been the popular choice in the options pits -- over the past 10 weeks at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), 52 calls have been bought to open for every put.


• FBR raised its price target on UA by $3 to $86 while reiterating an "outperform" rating. On the charts, Under Armour Inc is up 0.8% to reach $77.91, and earlier touched an all-time high of $78.87, for a 14.7% gain year-to-date. Short-term puts are more prominent than usual in the options pits, as UA's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.08 sits in the 80th percentile of its annual range. What's more, just 14 out of 27 analysts offer up "buy" or better opinions. A capitulation of option bears or additional upbeat analyst attention could create tailwinds.


• Last night, XONE posted lackluster fourth-quarter sales and a bigger-than-anticipated per-share loss, but predicted that revenue for the current quarter would beat estimates. In response, FBR cut its price target on the equity to $17 from $37 and its rating to "market perform" from "outperform." Today, the shares are down 5.9% to hit $14.26 -- spitting distance from their Feb. 3 all-time low of $13.40 -- contributing to a 15.1% year-to-date loss. There are plenty of bears cheering the dip; short interest accounts for over 39% of ExOne Co's available float, which would take nearly 12 sessions to cover, at average trading volumes.