Today's stocks to watch in the news include Starbucks Corporation (SBUX), Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL), and Puma Biotechnology Inc (PBYI)
U.S. stocks are modestly lower, as stocks react to mixed earnings. Among equities in focus today are specialty coffee retailer Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX), online payment firm Paypal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL), and biotech stock Puma Biotechnology Inc (NYSE:PBYI).
- SBUX is down 0.4% at $57.40, after issuing disappointing quarterly sales figures and lowering its full-year sales forecast. No fewer than seven analysts issued price-target cuts in the wake of the earnings announcement. Despite the miss, Starbucks Corporation shares are still just above breakeven year-over-year, and after their most recent test of the $54 area, have consolidated into the $56-$57.50 range. Option buyers were hoping for a post-earnings breakout to the upside, given SBUX's 50-day call/put volume ratio at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) of 2.13 -- in the 95th percentile of its annual range.
- PYPL is down 7.6% at $37.07, after reporting earnings and announcing a partnership with former rival Visa Inc (NYSE:V). Wells Fargo reacted by downgrading PYPL to "market perform" from "outperform." Paypal Holdings Inc is now down 3.4% year-over-year and back below its 10-week moving average, following today's bear gap and another unsuccessful test of the $40-$41 region. With 21 of 35 analysts rating currently PYPL a "buy" or better, and with only three "sell" or worse ratings on the books, there's plenty of room for downgrades to push the shares lower.
- PBYI is up 18.1% at $40.76, after releasing promising five-year survival results for its Phase III trial of breast cancer drug neratinib, and submitting a New Drug Application to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This is welcome news for the biotech, which is sitting above $40 for the first time since late March. PBYI is down nearly 60% year-over-year, but is set to close the week atop its 20-week trendline for just the second time since April 2015. Some short sellers are likely kicking rocks today, after short interest rose more than 11.4% in the previous reporting period, leaving 30.2% of Puma Biotechnology Inc's float sold short -- which would take 7.7 days of trading to cover, at PBYI's average daily volume.
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