Analysts downwardly revised their ratings and price targets on American Express Company (AXP), Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO), and GameStop Corp. (GME)
Analysts are weighing in on payment services provider American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), networking solutions specialist Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO), and video game retailer GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME). Here's a quick roundup of today's bearish brokerage notes on AXP, CSCO, and GME.
- AXP is trading 1% lower at $63.76 this morning, after Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "buy," citing expectations for the shares to be range-bound until the Street "becomes convinced that company can improve revenue growth." Meanwhile, D.A. Davidson began coverage on the stock with a "neutral" rating and $70 price target. American Express Company shed a quarter of its value in 2015 -- and touched a two-year low of $63.08 last week. Option traders have grown bearish, too. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), the equity's 50-day put/call volume ratio of 1.37 outranks 97% of all readings from the past year.
- Pacific Crest cut its price target on CSCO to $30 from $36 while maintaining its "overweight" rating. Cisco Systems Inc was last seen fractionally higher at $25.39, and could bounce off familiar support in the $25 region. Short-term options players are more put-heavy than usual. The stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.82 stands higher than 93% of all other readings from the past year. Should CSCO stage another comeback off $25, an unwinding of these puts could translate into an added tailwind.
- GME was hit with price-target cuts from Suntrust Robinson, Ascendiant Capital, and Wedbush -- to a range between $32 and $38 -- sending the stock down 3.3% to $26.96. GameStop Corp. reported disappointing holiday sales on Tuesday, sinking the shares to a fresh two-year low of $26.31. The security has underperformed the S&P 500 Index (SPX) by nearly 35 percentage points over the last three months, making it a prime target for short sellers. Specifically, 46.9% of GME's total available float is sold short -- enough to account for nearly three full weeks of trading, at the stock's average daily volume.