Analyst Update: Guess?, Inc., PVH Corp, and Williams-Sonoma, Inc.

Analysts are weighing in on retail stocks Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES), PVH Corp (NYSE:PVH), and Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM). Here's a quick roundup of today's brokerage notes on GES, PVH, and WSM.

• Like this fellow retailer, GES is down sharply on a disappointing earnings report and weak guidance (subscription required). Specifically, the stock was last seen 5.5% lower at $15.54, and earlier touched a seven-year low of $14.93. Exacerbating the sell-off, Guess?, Inc. received price-target cuts at Evercore ISI, Mizuho Securities, Jefferies, and Topeka Capital. Short sellers are rejoicing at the shares' downfall. A lofty 12.8% of GES' float is sold short, representing two weeks' worth of trading activity, at the stock's average daily volumes. Likewise, a recent crop of put buyers is likely being rewarded.


• On the other hand, Calvin Klein parent PVH has surged 4.8% at $94.17, after the retailer posted an earnings beat and an upwardly revised outlook. J.P. Morgan Securities and Credit Suisse responded by raising their respective price targets to $105 and $102 -- though each brokerage firm maintained its "neutral" rating. In the options pits, short-term traders have been more call-skewed than usual toward PVH Corp. Specifically, the retail stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) sits at 0.50, with calls doubling puts among options with a shelf-life of three months or less. In addition, the SOIR ranks in the low 17th annual percentile. Shifting back to the charts, while PVH's upside gap is impressive, the stock stopped short of its 320-day moving average -- which has rejected it repeatedly since late March.


• WSM is up 0.2% at $52.19, after an earlier advance was turned back at its 20-day trendline. Sparking the initial rally was an earnings beat, followed by price-target hikes at RBC, Goldman Sachs, and J.P. Morgan Securities. Year-to-date, Williams-Sonoma, Inc. is sitting on a nearly 11% deficit. That hasn't stopped options traders from placing bullish bets over bearish at an accelerated clip in recent months. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), WSM has amassed a 50-day call/put volume ratio of 2.37 -- in the bullishly skewed 91st percentile of its annual range -- with long calls more than doubling puts.

For other stocks in analysts' crosshairs, read Analyst Upgrades: Archer Daniels Midland Company, HP Inc, and Shire PLC and Analyst Downgrades: NetApp Inc., Pure Storage Inc, and Gilead Sciences, Inc.