Analysts downwardly revised their ratings and price targets on DIS, TWTR, and AKS
Analysts are weighing in on blue-chip media stock
Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS), social media concern
Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), and steel stock
AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE:AKS). Here's a quick roundup of today's bearish brokerage notes on DIS, TWTR, and AKS.
- DIS is down 1.5% at $107.85, following a downgrade to "sell" from "hold" by Pivotal Research Group, which also lowered its price target to $85 from $102 -- a roughly 22% discount to the stock's current price. Countering Pivotal's pessimism, J.P. Morgan Securities raised its price target on DIS to $124 from $118 -- in uncharted territory. DIS has been trekking higher in recent months, gaining more than 20% since its near-term low in mid-October, and with the shares enjoying the support of their 20-day moving average. Today's dip may have also been in the cards for Walt Disney Co stock, with the shares sporting a 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) of 76 -- in "overbought" territory.
- TWTR is down 1.5% at $17.05, following a downgrade to "hold" from "buy" by Pivotal, which also slashed its price target to $17 from $26. In addition, one MoffettNathanson analyst outlined five reasons he's reiterating a "sell" and paltry $11 price target on TWTR -- record-low territory -- including the recent executive exodus and the likelihood the firm's streaming sports experiment will fail. The social media concern has been churning in the $16-$20 range since its October bear gap, with its last rebound attempt quickly rejected by its 320-day moving average. Twitter Inc option bulls have been piling on, though, with 5.44 calls bought to open for every put over the last two weeks at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), a reading that sits just 5 percentage points from an annual high.
- AKS is trading 6.9% lower at $10.26, after a downgrade to "neutral" at Credit Suisse, which also reduced its opinion of the U.S. steel sector to "market weight" from "overweight," citing supply-and-demand concerns. AKS tacked on a whopping 400% year-over-year, and has more than doubled in just the past three months, touching a multi-year high of $11.39 in December. In the option pits, traders have been more bearish than usual, with AK Steel Holding Corporation's 50-day put/call volume ratio at the ISE/CBOE/PHLX sitting in the 90th percentile of its annual range.
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