Analyst Update: Metlife, Potash Corp, Adeptus Health

Analysts chimed in on financial firm Metlife Inc (NYSE:MET), fertilizer producer Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT), and freestanding ER provider Adeptus Health Inc (NYSE:ADPT).  Here's a quick roundup of today's brokerage notes on MET, POT, and ADPT.

• MET is 2.9% lower at $46.38 this afternoon, as financial stocks swoon following yesterday's Fed decision. Metlife Inc is also reeling from a price-target cut to $67 from $68 from RBC, as well as sector peer JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon underscoring recent speed bumps for third-quarter revenue in the banking sector. What's more, earlier this week, MET said it would take a $792 million charge in the third quarter, due to tax issues (subscription required). Technically, the stock has struggled to bounce back from the mid-August slump, with rebound attempts stalling in the $50 area. Now, the shares are on pace for their lowest close since October 2013. Bearish option players have taken note and stocked up on MET puts, as the equity's 50-day put/call volume ratio on the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) sits at a 52-week high of 0.47. Analyst rankings leave ample room for further momentum-stifling downgrades, as 11 of the 15 brokerage houses tracking MET rate it a "buy" or better.

• POT is 2.6% lower at $24.45, on pace for its lowest close since Aug. 25, after Altacorp cut its price target to $26 from $30. Today's drop is a continuation of Potash Corp./Saskatchewan's (USA) overall trend, as it has given up nearly 31% in 2015, pressured beneath its 10-week moving average. Short-term option players are still more call-oriented than usual, as its Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.50 is lower than 82% of the readings taken in the past 52 weeks. Capitulation from this bullish bunch could add downside pressure to the already-struggling shares.

• ADPT rounds out our stocks today, as it has bucked the bearish trend and is 2.4% higher at $115.75. Late yesterday, Keybanc upped Adeptus Health Inc's target price to $129 from $119 -- in uncharted territory. Turning to the healthcare company's chart (a sector boasting some intriguing opportunities), ADPT is on pace to end back atop its 10-week moving average for the first week in five, and notch its highest weekly close on record. A massive 61.4% of the equity's float is sold short, so today's jump could be some bears liquidating their pessimistic positions. If this is the beginning of a short squeeze, ADPT's short-interest ratio of 6.80 suggests that it could take seven days to exhaust the shorted positions, at the stock's average pace of trading.