Analyst Update: Tesla Motors Inc, Trueblue Inc, and ServiceNow Inc

Analysts are weighing in on electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), workforce solution specialist Trueblue Inc (NYSE:TBI), and cloud services stock ServiceNow Inc (NYSE:NOW). Here's a quick roundup of today's brokerage notes on TSLA, TBI, and NOW.

• TSLA is 0.8% lower at $248.00, after Credit Suisse removed the company from its "U.S. Focus List," just after CEO Elon Musk reported that Tesla Motors Inc has received nearly 400,000 preorders for its recently unveiled Model 3. On the charts, the stock has been pulling back since hitting a year-to-date high of $269.34 earlier this month. As such, analysts have generally been unimpressed with TSLA, as nine out 15 currently rate the stock a "hold" or worse. And short sellers have been plaguing the stock, as well, with their bearish bets accounting for nearly one-third of TSLA's available float, or about seven days' worth of trading, at typical daily volumes.

• Since reporting first-quarter revenue shy of expectations last night, TBI has received a downgrade to "underperform" from BMO, which also lowered its price target to $18 from $26. Baird echoed the move, cutting its rating on TrueBlue Inc to "neutral," and its price target to $23. The shares are down 25.2% at $20.28, and fresh off a nearly three-year low of $19.71. The security had been on a strong upswing heading into earnings, but 60% of analysts still deem TBI a "hold." And while options volume runs light on the stock, puts have been the strategy of choice, with nearly four TBI puts bought to open for each call on the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) over the past two weeks.

• NOW is up 13.8% at $74.11 -- paring its year-to-date loss to 14.4% -- after the company reported higher-than-predicted quarterly earnings, resulting in no fewer than 14 price-target hikes from analysts. FBN Securities and RBC set the highest target at $90 -- a level the shares haven't seen since early December. The stock has been recovering since its late-January bear gap, and is now on pace to close atop its 200-day moving average for the first time since Jan. 12. Option traders have been more optimistic than usual as the equity has plotted higher -- at the ISE, CBOE, and PHLX, ServiceNow Inc has a 50-day call/put volume ratio of 0.72, higher than 97% of all readings in the past year.

For other stocks in analysts' crosshairs, read Analyst Upgrades: American Express Company, Yum! Brands, Inc., and Fitbit Inc and Analyst Downgrades: Mattel, Inc., Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage Inc, and Las Vegas Sands Corp.