Analysts revised their ratings and price targets on Under Armour Inc (UA), SAGE Therapeutics Inc (SAGE), and Stratasys, Ltd. (SSYS)
Analysts are weighing in on athletic apparel maker Under Armour Inc (NYSE:UA), biopharmaceutical stock SAGE Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SAGE), and 3-D printing specialist Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS). Here's a quick roundup of today's brokerage notes on UA, SAGE, and SSYS.
- While a number of retail stocks are smarting, UA has soared 3.5% to trade at $38.58, after the company announced a record 15-year, $280-million apparel deal with UCLA. Suffice it to say, the news is overshadowing a price-target cut to $43 from $45 at J.P. Morgan Securities. Yet, Under Armour, Inc remains a long-term technical laggard, down 29.5% since topping out at an all-time high of $54.70 in mid-September. The stock's losses have been exacerbated by the departure of key executives in recent weeks. A capitulation among bullish brokerage firms could trigger another round of losses, too, as 15 of 27 analysts rate UA a "strong buy."
- SAGE has sunk nearly 9% at $29.82, after Chardan Capital started coverage with a "sell" rating. It's hard to blame the brokerage firm for its skepticism, considering the stock has lost more than 58% of its value on a year-over-year basis. While short interest plunged 14.3% during the last two reporting periods, 16.4% of SAGE Therapeutics Inc's float is still sold short. At SAGE's typical trading levels, it would take roughly two weeks to cover these bearish bets.
- SSYS has jumped 8.3% to trade at $22.15, following an "outperform" initiation at FBR & Co. This is a relatively rare round of upbeat brokerage attention, given that almost two-thirds of analysts tracking Stratasys, Ltd. have doled out a "hold" or worse recommendation. Options traders have also been buying to open puts over calls at an extreme rate of late. Specifically, the stock's 10-day put/call volume ratio of 2.85 across the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) marks a 12-month high. Technically speaking, SSYS has been unimpressive (today's gains notwithstanding), and has underperformed the broader S&P 500 Index (SPX) by nearly 20 percentage points in the last month.
For other stocks in analysts' crosshairs, read Analyst Upgrades: Microsoft Corporation, Archer Daniels Midland Company, and Western Digital Corp and Analyst Downgrades: Twitter Inc, Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc, and Trina Solar Limited.