BUY, SELL, HOLD (2)

Ralph Lauren Stock Plummets on Goldman Sachs Bear Note

Short sellers have been piling on the equity

Digital Content Manager
Dec 14, 2021 at 9:21 AM
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The shares of Ralph Lauren Corp (NYSE:RL) are plummeting today, last seen down 5.1% to trade at $114. Goldman Sachs double downgraded the apparel retailer to "sell" from "buy" earlier, while also cutting its price target to $110 from $142, noting that brand momentum is fading.

The brokerage bunch was optimistic towards the security coming into today. Of the 12 analysts in coverage, eight carried a "buy" or better rating, while the remaining four said "hold." What's more, the stock's 12-month consensus target price of $138.49 is a 15.3% premium to last night's close. Should more analysts start to change their tune, the shares could drop even lower.

Meanwhile, short sellers have been piling on RL. Short interest rose 17.4% in the most recent reporting period, with the 3.75 million shares sold short already accounting for 7.8% of Ralph Lauren stock's available float, or nearly one week's worth of pent-up buying power.

The options pits are firmly in the bearish camp. This is per the equity's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.48, which stands higher than 85% of readings from the past year. This means short-term options traders have been much more put-biased than usual.   

Now may be a good time to bet on RL's next move with options. The stock's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 38% sits higher than 22% of readings from the last 12 months, suggesting options players are pricing in low volatility expectations for the equity at the moment.

On the charts, Ralph Lauren stock bounced off a floor at the $115 level in November. The shares are now running into a familiar ceiling at the $130 level, though year-over-year RL is still up 18.5%.

 

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