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Analyst Downgrades: Apple Inc., Tesla Motors Inc, and Tractor Supply Company

Analysts downwardly revised their ratings and price targets on Apple Inc. (AAPL), Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA), and Tractor Supply Company (TSCO)

Sep 8, 2016 at 9:30 AM
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Analysts are weighing in on iPhone parent Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), electric carmaker Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), and retail stock Tractor Supply Company (NASDAQ:TSCO). Here's a quick roundup of today's bearish brokerage notes on AAPL, TSLA, and TSCO.

  • AAPL is 0.7% lower ahead of the bell, after closing last night at $108.36. The stock received a mixed bag of analyst attention following the tech titan's event in San Francisco yesterday, where Apple Inc. unveiled its latest line of products and features, including the iPhone 7, a new Apple Watch, and a big partnership with one notable athletic name. Wells Fargo, for instance, downgraded the stock to "market perform" from "outperform," citing "limited upside potential." Elsewhere, Oppenheimer reiterated its lukewarm "perform" rating, noting it is "unconvinced that those new devices will materially alter our current financial estimates."

    Meanwhile, Mizuho Securities bucked the trend, reiterating its "buy" rating and $120 price target. Technically, AAPL shares have been running into trouble at the $110 level, and it looks the 320-moving average is once again at play, and could apply additional pressure to the stock in the near term.

  • TSLA is off 2.2% in pre-market trading, after Cowen and Company initiated coverage on the stock with a downbeat "underperform" rating and $160 price target -- well below the shares' Wednesday close of $201.71. "Simply, we see a lot more that can go wrong than can go right as the company transitions into Mr. Musk's greater vision as laid out in his Master Plan, Part Deux," an analyst at the firm said, citing concerns over Tesla Motors Inc's "Gigafactory" plans and the launch of its latest Model 3.

    While the stock has been testing support at the round $200 level recently, options traders have been upping their bearish bets. Specifically, TSLA's 10-day put/call volume ratio across the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) sits at an annual high of 1.31.
  • TSCO is getting hammered this morning, down 15% ahead of the bell and on track to hit a new annual low at the open, after cutting its full-year outlook. The move was met with no fewer than seven downgrades and nine price-target cuts. Included in the bunch was a downgrade to "neutral" from "overweight" from Piper Jaffray, which also cut its price taret to $72 from $103. The shares have been slumping since early June, closing Wednesday at $83.53. Near-term options traders, meanwhile, are close to a put-skewed extreme, per Tractor Supply Company's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 2.25 -- in the 99th percentile of its annual range.
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