Analyst Update: Intersect ENT, US Steel, and AVG Tech

Analysts are weighing in today on medical device maker Intersect ENT Inc (NASDAQ:XENT), steel producer United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X), and Internet security interest AVG Technologies NV (NYSE:AVG). Here's a quick roundup of today's brokerage notes on XENT, X, and AVG.

•  XENT has suffered a sharp drop on the charts, last seen just above its 52-week low at $16.33, a loss of 24.7%, after reporting a wider-than-forecast quarterly loss last night. This represents a much larger swing than the stock's average one-day post-earnings move of just 7.2% over the last two quarters. Intersect ENT Inc received several price-target cuts in light of the news, with Leerink lowering its forecast to $25 from $33, J.P. Morgan Securities moving to $24 from $37, and Wedbush dropping its target to $22 from $36. The medical device maker is currently down more than 12% year-to-date, but sports relatively bullish analyst ratings, with all seven firms following the stock giving it a "strong buy" rating. Only 6% of the shares' float is currently sold short, which could be covered in about two days of trading, at typical volumes. If sentiment continues to turn bearish, XENT could suffer an even bigger fall. 

• X also reported an unexpectedly wide loss for the third quarter, per Tuesday night's report. The shares dropped 6.9% yesterday and were last seen down another 3.3% at $10.69 -- not far off its multi-year low of $9.66, set in early October -- following price-target drops to $12 from $21 at Nomura, to $10 from $12 at Citigroup, and to $13 from $25 at Deutsche Bank. Traders are pessimistic as well, with a whopping 43% of the stock's float sold short -- although yesterday's steep post-earnings loss has X spending its second day on the short-sale restricted list. The steel interest also sports a 10-day put/call volume ratio of 2.03 on the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), ranking in the 92nd percentile of readings taken in the past year. Things have been looking rocky for the stock since this time last year, with X down 77% from its September 2014 high, but it doesn't look as though the shares have hit a bearish bottom just yet. 

• AVG had a similar fate after reporting third quarter earnings short of expectations after the market closed yesterday. The online security firm has taken a hit, last seen trading at $20.03 -- down 16.8% from yesterday's close, which is much wider than the 9% post-earnings move the options market was pricing in. As a result, J.P. Morgan Securities downgraded its rating on the stock to "neutral" from "overweight," and cut its price target to $24 from $33. Other analysts have also hit AVG with decreased price targets today -- including a drop to $31 from $32 at Nomura, to $35 from $47 at JMP Securities, and to $31 from $34 at Dougherty.  Still, AVG has four "buy" or better ratings and three "holds," without a "sell" in sight. Traders are also bullish, with a 50-day call/put volume ratio at the ISE/CBOE/PHLX of 6.0, in the 91st percentile for the last 52-weeks -- indicating a strong preference for calls over puts. AVG Technologies NV is still up a slim 1.5% year-to-date, but the shares have lost more than 31% of their value since their late-July high. If sentiment turns negative amid AVG's deteriorating technical and fundamental outlook, there is plenty of room for a shift in sentiment to spark more downside.

For other stocks in analysts' crosshairs, read Analyst Upgrades: Facebook Inc, Expedia Inc, and GoDaddy Inc and Analyst Downgrades: Whole Foods Market, Inc., Oracle Corporation, and Qualcomm.