Analyst Update: Potash Corp, Conatus Pharma, Horizon Pharma

Analysts chimed in on fertilizer producer Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT), as well as biotechnology concerns Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CNAT) and Horizon Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:HZNP).  Here's a quick roundup of today's brokerage notes on POT, CNAT, and HZNP.

• POT is 6.6% lower at $22.12 (and just off a new six-year low of $21.93), after fellow potash producer Mosaic Co (NYSE:MOS) reduced its potash output and lowered its quarterly sales guidance. What's more, Macquarie downgraded POT to "underperform" from "neutral." The brokerage also lowered Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA)'s target price to $22 from $32 -- a move similar to one made by Altacorp last week. POT's options crowd is likely cheering the dip. Short-term option players haven't been more put-heavy during the past year, as the stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.55 sits at a 52-week high. In addition, the equity's 10-day put/call volume ratio across the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) checks in at 1.11, which is higher than 82% of the readings taken in the past year.

• CNAT is 9.2% higher at $4.74, bucking the broad-market trend, after H.C. Wainwright started the stock with a "buy" rating and a $15 price target -- more than three times the stock's current price. The brokerage firm attributed the upbeat opinion to the prospects for emricasan, CNAT's liver drug. On Aug. 26, shares of Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc hit a record low of $3.44, but have bounced back, adding roughly 21% in September alone. What's more, today's rally has the stock trading above its 80-day moving average for the first time since June. 

• Finally, HZNP is headed in the opposite direction of its sector mate CNAT, dropping 12.5% to $25.38. Horizon Pharma PLC dropped after Brean cut the equity to "hold" from "buy," citing "unsettling" developments -- including the belief that a Depomed (NASDAQ:DEPO) deal won't happen. Despite today's drop, HZNP has almost doubled in 2015, but is in danger of breaching its 200-day moving average for the first time this year. Should the stock continue to fall, there could be some pressure from downgrades, as all seven of the brokerages rating HZNP feel it worthy of a "buy" or better.