Analyst Downgrades: Monster Beverage Corporation, Goldcorp Inc. (USA), and Peregrine Pharmaceuticals

Analysts downwardly revised their ratings and price targets on Monster Beverage Corporation (MNST), Goldcorp Inc. (USA) (GG), and Peregrine Pharmaceuticals (PPHM)

Feb 26, 2016 at 10:13 AM

Analysts are weighing in on food and beverage concern Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST), gold stock Goldcorp Inc. (USA) (NYSE:GG), and biotech issue Peregrine Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:PPHM). Here's a quick roundup of today's bearish brokerage notes on MNST, GG, and PPHM.

A least six brokerage firms have lowered their price targets on MNST since the company reported fourth-quarter earnings below estimates. Susquehanna set the lowest target, at $117. Against this backdrop, shares of Monster Beverage Corporation have slipped 1.5% today to $131.15 -- widening their year-to-date deficit to 12%. Bearish betting has spiked to yearly highs in the options pits. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), MNST's 50-day put/call volume ratio of 1.89 is higher than 100% of all readings from the past 12 months.

GG is down 8.6% at $14.52, after the company unexpectedly swung to a fourth-quarter loss, and the stock was hit with a downgrade to "sell" from "hold" at Deutsche Bank and price-target cuts from four brokerages so far. Goldcorp Inc. had been staging a strong rebound off its 12-year low of $9.26, tagged just over a month ago. What's more, the stock has outperformed the S&P 500 Index (SPX) by a healthy 43 percentage points over the past three months.Meanwhile, in the options pits, short-term speculators are more put-skewed than they've been at any other point during the past year. Specifically, GG has a Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.86 -- in the top percentile of its annual range.

PPHM is nosediving 61.9% to $0.41 -- and earlier hit a new record low of $0.37 -- after the firm announced it has cancelled a Phase III trial of is Bavituximab treatment for lung cancer. Roth Capital downgraded the stock to "neutral" and cut its price target to $0.50 from $3, explaining, "until we receive more information as to the level or extend of confounding data, the trial is viewed as a complete failure." Although Peregrine Pharmaceuticals has found itself on the short-sale restricted list today, short sellers have been quick to boost their bearish bets of late. Short interest on the equity climbed by 26% over the two most recent reporting periods, and now accounts for 12.5 days' worth of trading, at the stock's typical volumes.

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