Analyst Downgrades: AMD, Manitowoc Company, Amex

Analysts are weighing in today on semiconductor concern Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD), heavy machinery maker Manitowoc Company Inc (NYSE:MTW), and credit card issue American Express Company (NYSE:AXP). Here's a quick roundup of today's bearish brokerage notes on AMD, MTW, and AXP.

• AMD is down 11.9% at the open to trade at $2.53, after the company's dreary first-quarter earnings report was met with price-target cuts from Wedbush (to $2.25) and Canaccord Genuity (to $2). While today's price move just echoes the equity's historical post-earnings performance, AMD could find a foothold in the $2.60 region -- an area that contained the shares' most recent pullback. On the sentiment front, traders have shown a fondness for puts over calls in the April-dated series, which expires at tonight's close. Specifically, AMD's front-month gamma-weighted Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) is docked at a top-heavy 1.46. Drilling down, the April 2.50 strike is home to peak put open interest, with more than 67,000 contracts in residence.


• MTW was hit with no fewer than six price-target cuts, after the firm said it would report a first-quarter pretax loss (subscription required) when it heads into the earnings confessional the evening of Wednesday, April 29. Baird, for example, reduced its price target to $26 from $28, while BMO downwardly revised its target by $2 to $18. Technically speaking, the stock has shed 39% since hitting a nearly six-year high of $33.50 last July, and more recently, has encountered a stern layer of resistance from its 180-day moving average. The security is extending this decline today, off 6.8% out of the gate at $20.29. Options traders, meanwhile, have been quick to initiate long puts in recent months. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), Manitowoc Company Inc's 50-day put/call volume ratio of 2.18 rests higher than all other similar readings taken in the past year.


• AXP is down 3.2%, following the blue chip's first-quarter revenue miss. What's more, a number of brokerage firms reduced their price targets on the shares; specifically, Bernstein (to $94), Credit Suisse (to $76), J.P. Morgan Securities (to $82), RBC (to $69), and UBS (to $82). On the charts, the stock put in a dismal performance in 2015, off 15.8% at $78.30, amid pressure from its 50-day moving average. However, option traders have shown a distinct preference for long calls over puts of late. Elsewhere, short interest plunged 20.6% in the latest reporting period, and now accounts for just 1.1% of American Express Company's available float.