Analyst Downgrades: AIG, Qualys, and NVIDIA Corp

Analysts are weighing in on insurance company American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG), cloud concern Qualys Inc (NASDAQ:QLYS), and visual computing specialist NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA). Here's a quick roundup of today's bearish brokerage notes on AIG, QLYS, and NVDA.

• AIG is receive bearish brokerage attention, after the company reported a huge earnings miss and announced plans to cut as many as 400 senior-level jobs -- amid Carl Icahn's calls for an organizational break-up. Barclays trimmed its price target to $71 from $73, while Credit Suisse cut its target to $65 from $67, helping sending the shares 3% lower pre-market. On the charts, American International Group Inc has been battling back since its most recent low of $55.24 in early October, up 15.4% at $63.74. This has prompted bullish betting on the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), where AIG has racked up a top-heavy call/put volume ratio of 6.35 -- in the 94th percentile of its annual range.


• QLYS has received price-target cuts from J.P. Morgan Securities, RBC, and Wunderlich, as the company's better-than-expected third-quarter earnings are being eclipsed by a cut to its 2015 revenue outlook. Collectively, these developments have the shares 11% lower in pre-market trading. In recent weeks, Qualys Inc has been muscling higher atop its 10-day moving average, and settled yesterday at $35.89. This morning, however, the stock will likely gap well below that trendline, to test its previously supportive 60-day moving average. This is good news for short sellers. Almost 7.5% of QLYS' float is sold short, representing over six days of trading activity, at typical volumes.


• Ahead of Thursday night's earnings report, NVDA is on the receiving end of some analyst negativity. Specifically, Needham cut its rating on the stock to "hold" from "buy" -- though Jefferies and and Raymond James raised their respective price targets to $34 and $33. In pre-market trading, NVIDIA Corporation is down 1.7%. Longer term, though, this is relatively minor, considering the shares have added over 43% year-to-date, and closed at $28.70 on Monday -- just 8 cents below their seven-year high from late October. NVDA's technical prowess is even more impressive, considering it's happening in the face of intense short selling. Specifically, short interest spiked 26.5% during the last report period, and now accounts for 8.5% of the equity's total float -- plenty of fuel for a potential short-covering rally.