Analyst Downgrades: FXCM Inc., Humana Inc., and Vale SA

Analysts downwardly revised their ratings on FXCM Inc (NYSE:FXCM), Humana Inc (NYSE:HUM), and Vale SA (ADR) (NYSE:VALE)

May 13, 2015 at 9:30 AM

Analysts are weighing in today on forex concern FXCM Inc (NYSE:FXCM), healthcare firm Humana Inc (NYSE:HUM), and mining concern Vale SA (ADR) (NYSE:VALE). Here's a quick roundup of today's bearish brokerage notes on FXCM, HUM, and VALE.

KBW cut its price target on FXCM to $1 from $1.50 while keeping its "underperform" rating, as the currency firm continues to deal with legal troubles that came to light earlier this week. Additionally, FXCM Inc on Friday reported a first-quarter loss. At last check, the shares of FXCM Inc -- which closed at $1.90 yesterday -- were pointed 0.5% lower in electronic trading, and could steepen their staggering year-to-date loss of 88.5%. With the stock now in the low single digits, options traders have been gambling on a turnaround -- over the past 10 days at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), 30.61 FXCM calls have been bought to open for every put. Similarly, the stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.10 is lower than 99% of all comparable readings from the past year, showing that short-term traders have rarely been this call-skewed. Elsewhere, all five analysts covering the stock rate it a "hold" or worse.

The shares of HUM are down 0.7% in pre-market trading, after Sterne Agee CRT downgraded the equity to "underperform" from "neutral," with the brokerage firm saying "We believe there is material EPS guidance risk and that investor conversations about acquisitions are wishful thinking at these valuations." What's more, Leerink analyst Ana Gupte just yesterday speculated on a potential merger with Aetna Inc (NYSE:AET) . Although Humana Inc is up over 20% year-to-date to dock at $173.38, the stock could face potential resistance in the $175 area -- which acted as support until HUM released underwhelming first-quarter earnings late last month (subscription required). Looking to the options pits, traders have shown a preference for calls, as HUM's 50-day ISE/CBOE/PHLX call/put volume ratio of 2.09 ranks in the 88th annual percentile.

The shares of VALE are 0.5% higher in pre-market trading, despite Macquarie downgrading the stock to "neutral" from "outperform." The negative note echoes the current sentiment among the brokerage bunch, as 80% of covering analysts rate the stock a "hold" or worse. On the charts, the shares of Vale SA have dropped nearly 47% year-over-year to close yesterday at $7.37. Accordingly, puts have been prominent in the options pits, as VALE's 10-day ISE/CBOE/PHLX put/call volume ratio of 2.23 stands in the 90th percentile of its annual range.

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