The analyst downgraded XRX to "underweight"
J.P. Morgan Securities this morning downgraded Xerox Holding Corp (NYSE:XRX) to "underweight" from "neutral," and cut its price target to $20 from $23. The analyst said it has low expectations for Xerox's second-quarter earnings report, which is due out before the open on Tuesday, July 28, warning that the coronavirus-sparked shift to work-from-home would have a negative impact on the company's variable usage and new equipment sales. In response, XRX is down 1.8% at $16.50 in electronic trading.
The majority of analysts are already on board with J.P. Morgan's bearish sentiment. In fact, coming into today, three considered it a "hold," and one said "sell." Meanwhile, the consensus 12-month price target of $18.60 is a 10.7% premium to last night's close.
Short interest is inching higher, up 7.1% in the last reporting period, though there's still plenty of room on the bearish bandwagon. The 6.68 million shares sold short make up a slim 3.3% of XRX's available float, or a little under two days at its average pace of trading.
It's been a rough year for Xerox. The stock has yet to recover from its devastating early March plummet and is once again contending with the 70-day moving average -- a trendline that rejected a rally attempt in early June. While XRX briefly topped the trendline, it slipped back below here during yesterday's trading, putting the equity at a 54.4% year-to-date deficit.