Analyst Downgrades: Yahoo! Inc., Apple Inc., and Twitter Inc

Analysts downwardly revised their ratings and price targets on Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO), Apple Inc. (AAPL), and Twitter Inc (TWTR)

Jul 11, 2016 at 9:52 AM

Analysts are weighing in on internet stock Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), tech titan Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), and social media interest Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR). Here's a quick roundup of today's bearish brokerage notes on YHOO, AAPL, and TWTR.

YHOO is down 0.3% at $37.62 this morning, after SunTrust Robinson lowered its rating on the stock to "neutral" and its price target to $42 from $44, while Pivotal Research downgraded the stock to "hold" from "buy." The news comes as Yahoo! Inc. is considering the latest round of bids for its core business, and one week ahead of its next quarterly earnings report. Recent option bulls are likely to be disappointed with today's price action. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), the stock's 10-day call/put volume ratio of 6.20 sits higher than 91% of the past year's readings.

AAPL is up 0.5% at $97.19 on broad-market tailwinds, even as Pacific Crest cut its price target on the stock to $121 from $123. Apple Inc. has given up nearly 8% of its value so far in 2016, and hasn't managed a close above the $100 level since May. Analysts remain largely in AAPL's bullish corner, and near-term option traders appear to be betting on a bounce back. The stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.60 sits lower than 92% of all readings in the last 12 months. But an unwinding of optimism in or outside of the options pits could send the shares skidding lower.

TWTR is off 2.3% at $17.66, as its recent rally loses steam at the $18 level, which also shut down the shares in April. SunTrust Robinson and Monness Crespi Hardt both cut their ratings on Twitter Inc to "neutral" today, while Pivotal Reseach lowered its price target by $1 to $26. The company also announced this morning that it will partner with CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS) to live stream the Democratic and Republican national conventions later this month. In the meantime, options traders have been picking up the stock's long calls at an extreme rate. In fact, TWTR's 10-day ISE/CBOE/PHLX call/put volume ratio of 7.57 is seated at an annual high.

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