Analysts downwardly revised their ratings and price targets on Chimerix Inc (CMRX), TrueCar Inc (TRUE), and Best Buy Co Inc (BBY)
Analysts are weighing in on biotech
Chimerix Inc (NASDAQ:CMRX), auto pricing issue
TrueCar Inc (NASDAQ:TRUE), and electronics retailer
Best Buy Co Inc (NYSE:BBY). Here's a quick roundup of today's bearish brokerage notes on CMRX, TRUE, and BBY.
- Citigroup this morning lowered its expectations on a bevy of biotech stocks, and for CMRX, this meant a price-target cut to $13 from $19. The stock is shrugging this off however, last seen 3.1% higher at $7.32, as it tries to recover some ground after its devastating bear gap back in December. The Street doesn't see this recovery going very far, though. Only 20% of brokerage firms recommend buying Chimerix Inc, and short interest now represents almost 13% of the stock's float -- after jumping over 80.6% in the last two reporting periods.
- TRUE is sliding this morning, giving back 18.4% at $4.71, after the company's current-quarter and full-year forecasts failed to live up to the Street's expectations. On top of this, TrueCar Inc's fourth-quarter numbers missed estimates. The shares have now lost almost half their value year-to-date, and analysts are losing hope. For instance, no fewer than seven dropped their price target on TRUE since yesterday's close, with JMP Securities lowering its opinion to "market perform" from "market outperform." Short sellers don't mind these losses, though. More than one-quarter of TRUE's float is sold short, and it'd take these bears almost 13 sessions to repurchase their positions, at average daily volumes.
- BBY is down 3.5% today at $29.68, after Goldman Sachs cut its rating on the stock to "neutral" from "buy," and removed it from its "America's Buy" list. However, the brokerage firm did raise its price target by $1 to $33. Looking to the options pits, put buying has hit an annual extreme compared to call buying at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). Specifically, Best Buy Co Inc's 10-day put/call volume ratio across these exchanges of 6.39 is higher than every other reading from the past 12 months. If the stock can right the ship on the charts -- and resume its bounce from its Jan. 15 annual low of $25.31 -- it could get a short-term boost should these bearish players hit the exits.
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