Analyst Update: Kohl's, Pacific Biosciences, Atwood Oceanics

Analysts are weighing in today on retailer Kohl's Corporation (NYSE:KSS), drugmaker Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB), and offshore driller Atwood Oceanics, Inc. (NYSE:ATW). Here's a quick roundup of today's brokerage notes on KSS, PACB, and ATW.

• Analysts are trimming their expectations on KSS after the company lowered its full-year earnings guidance and reported underwhelming same-store sales for the fourth quarter. Specifically, Sterne Agee CRT cut its price target to $42, while Jefferies lowered its target to $52. All in all, shares of Kohl's Corporation are off 19.1% today at $41.36, after earlier touching a six-year low of $40.95, easily breaching the $44 level that had acted as support in recent months. Making matters worse, additional analyst downgrades could ensue, since half of those covering KSS say it's a "strong buy." 

• PACB has been on all over the charts in recent sessions. The stock jumped over 24% on Tuesday, on reports Roche Holding AG was in talks to buy the drug producer. The shares have since given back all of these gains, though, down 20.7% at $9.83 -- and on pace for their steepest drop since 2011 -- following the firm's fourth-quarter results. Adding to the bearish overtone is a downgrade to "neutral" at Piper Jaffray, as the brokerage firm opined, "We believe a potential acquisition from Roche (or others) is already factored into the shares and see limited upside from current levels." J.P. Morgan Securities, on the other hand, raised its price target to $12 from $10. Regardless, short sellers are probably kicking themselves for hitting the exits too soon. That is, short interest on Pacific Biosciences of California dropped by close to 15% during the previous reporting period, though it still accounts for 22.4% of the stock's float. 

• Despite price-target cuts from no fewer than nine brokerage firms, ATW has exploded 24% to $6.97, following an upgrade to "accumulate" at KLR Group, which raised its price target to $6.75. The brokerage firm said it sees "potential upside from the shares that may factor reduced financial risk." Still, Atwood Oceanics, Inc. has a lot of work to do, as it's lagged the S&P 500 Index (SPX) by over 64 percentage points during the past three months, hitting a 16-year low of $4.82 yesterday. This price action has led speculators to take a put-skewed approach. Specifically, ATW's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) comes in at 1.94, which is higher than 76% of similar readings from the past year. Put simply, short-term option traders have taken an unusual interest in puts over calls.