Analyst Downgrades: Ciena, Genworth, and Myriad Genetics

Analysts are weighing in today on communications networking expert Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN), wealth management company Genworth Financial Inc (NYSE:GNW), and diagnostics issue Myriad Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MYGN). Here's a quick roundup of today's bearish brokerage notes on CIEN, GNW, and MYGN.

• CIEN saw its price target cut to $16 from $18 at RBC, which also reiterated its "sector perform" rating. This shouldn't come as any surprise, considering the shares have tumbled 30.5% year-to-date to trade at $16.62, and are down another 4.8% ahead of the bell. That said, additional bearish brokerage notes could be in store for Ciena Corporation. Fourteen out of the 16 firms covering the stock have given it a "buy" or "strong buy" recommendation, and CIEN's consensus 12-month price target of $25.60 stands in territory not charted since early March.


• Following last week's disastrous post-earnings performance -- in which the shares lost 40% of their value to close at $8.41 on Friday -- GNW was hit this morning by a trio of bearish brokerage notes. Specifically, KBW downgraded the stock to "market perform" from "outperform" and slashed its price target to $10.50 from $16, while Compass Point and Macquarie both cut their price targets to $12, and underscored their respective "neutral" and "outperform" ratings. Elsewhere, traders at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) have grown increasingly bearish toward Genworth Financial Inc in recent months. The stock's 50-day put/call volume ratio of 0.61 across these three exchanges rests just 5 percentage points from a 52-week high.


• Finally, despite rallying more than 66% year-to-date to trade at $34.89, MYGN was started with an "underweight" opinion at Morgan Stanley. This firm isn't the only one that's skeptical of the shares. In fact, eight out of the 12 analysts following Myriad Genetics, Inc. have passed out "hold" or "strong sell" ratings. Meanwhile, a brow-raising 46.8% of the equity's float is sold short, which would take roughly 11 weeks to cover, at MYGN's typical daily trading levels.