Analyst Downgrades: Micron, EMC Corporation, SanDisk

Analysts are weighing in today on semiconductor maker Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU), IT specialist EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC), and flash storage provider SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK). Here's a quick roundup of today's bearish brokerage notes on MU, EMC, and SNDK.

• MU is set to open 3.1% lower, after Morgan Stanley cut its outlook to "underweight," while reducing its price target to $21 from $30 -- a discount to Friday's close of $25.13. The brokerage firm said the earnings strength it expected from the company won't come until the fourth quarter or later, due to excessive customer inventories. MU has been struggling in 2015, dropping over 28%. In fact, the shares hit an annual low of $24.71 at the end of last week, and will likely hit new lows today. Of the 21 analysts covering Micron Technology, Inc., 17 rate it a "buy" or better. Plus, the security been moving south of its average 12-month price target of $37.13 -- in decade-plus-high territory -- for several months now. It wouldn't be surprising to see additional bearish notes from brokerage firms send the equity lower.


• Things could be getting worse for EMC, which has already dropped 12.5% since its 13-year high of $30.92 in December, settling Friday at $27.07. The stock this morning got hit with a downgrade to "market perform" from "outperform" at FBR, which also lowered its price target by $3 to $28. Elsewhere, however, option traders have remained optimistic. EMC Corporation's 10-day International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) call/put volume ratio of 7.01 is higher than 89% of similar readings from the past year. This means call buying has been far more popular than normal, compared to put buying.


• Like MU, Morgan Stanley also weighed in on SNDK this morning, lowering its outlook to "equal weight" from "overweight," and setting its price target $5 lower at $75. The shares are pointed 1.2% lower in electronic trading, poised to steepen their year-over-year loss of nearly 33%. This poor price action as led to heavy short selling, as close to 17 million SanDisk Corporation shares are controlled by short sellers. What's more, it would take these bears nearly an entire week to buy back their shares, at the equity's normal trading pace.