Analyst Downgrades: GoPro Inc, Whole Foods Market, Inc., and FireEye Inc

Analysts downwardly revised their ratings and price targets on GoPro Inc (NASDAQ:GPRO), Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM), and FireEye Inc (NASDAQ:FEYE)

Josh Selway

Nov 4, 2016 at 9:26 AM

Analysts are weighing in on action camera maker GoPro Inc (NASDAQ:GPRO), organic grocer Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM), and cybersecurity stock FireEye Inc (NASDAQ:FEYE). Here's a quick roundup of today's bearish brokerage notes on GPRO, WFM, and FEYE.

GPRO is down almost 18% in electronic trading, after the company widely missed Wall Street's estimates with its third-quarter earnings results, while also lowering its full-year outlook. Following this, Raymond James, J.P. Morgan Securities, Wedbush, Goldman Sachs, and Stifel all lowered their price targets, with the latter setting the bar the lowest at $10. This may be just the beginning of analysts' bearish adjustments on the stock, though, as only two of 15 recommend selling GoPro Inc. This is especially surprising considering GPRO shares had already shed over half their value year-over-year, as of Thursday's close at $11.94.

A downgrade to "underperform" at BofA-Merrill Lynch has WFM down 1.8% ahead of the open. It's been a generally poor year for the shares, which currently sit 15% below their year-to-date breakeven mark, at $28.46. However, short-term options traders appear positioned for a move higher. Specifically, Whole Foods Market, Inc.'s Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.69 ranks just 8 percentage points from a 12-month low -- indicating open interest for options expiring within three months is unusually call-heavy.

FEYE, on the other hand, is set to gain 15% out of the chute, after the company blew past analysts' third-quarter earnings estimates. While Wedbush upped its price target to $14 from $13, Citigroup, Nomura, Stifel, and Oppenheimer all lowered their price targets -- though even the lowest mark of $15 from Citigroup represents a huge premium to Thursday's settlement at $11.01. The question now becomes whether this pending bull gap will scare away FireEye Inc short sellers, who have been piling on amid the shares' 47% slide in 2016. Over 16% of the stock's float is sold short, representing almost seven days of buying power, based on FEYE's average daily volumes.

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