Analyst Downgrades: International Business Machines Corp., Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., and FireEye Inc

Analysts downwardly revised their ratings and price targets on International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM), Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD), and FireEye Inc (NASDAQ:FEYE)

Josh Selway

Jan 20, 2016 at 10:06 AM

Analysts are weighing in on tech firm International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM), chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD), and cybersecurity stock FireEye Inc (NASDAQ:FEYE). Here's a quick roundup of today's bearish brokerage notes on IBM, AMD, and FEYE.

IBM is off 5.3% this morning at $121.37 -- after hitting a five-year low of $118 -- after the company reported disappointing fourth-quarter revenues and weak full-year guidance. What's more, no fewer than 10 brokerage firms lowered their price targets on the stock. Included in the bunch was Credit Suisse, which lowered its target to $110 from $125 -- territory not seen since July 2009. On the charts, International Business Machines Corp. is on the verge of closing below its 200-month moving average for the first time in at least 19 years. It's no surprise, then, that 10 of 16 covering analysts say IBM is a "hold" or worse.

Pre-earnings bulls are licking their wounds this morning, as AMD has dropped 1.5% at $1.92, after the company announced lackluster quarterly results. Since surging to a nine-month high of $3.06 on Dec. 29, the stock has dropped 37%, and more analysts are making their skepticism clear. That is, Exane BNP Paribas and Raymond James lowered their respective price targets to $1.60 and $3 this morning. More price-target cuts could be in store for Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., as its average 12-month price target of $2.31 represents a 20.3% premium to current levels.

Wunderlich lowered its price target on FEYE to $21 from $32, and now the shares are off 9.9% at $13.72, after earlier touching an all-time low of $13.61. The stock has trailed the S&P 500 Index (SPX) by an eye-popping 39 percentage points over the previous three months, and more losses could be ahead if option traders unwind their seemingly bullish positions. Specifically, FireEye Inc's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) comes in at 0.29 -- an annual low. In short, near-term option traders are more call-skewed than at any point in the previous 12 months.

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