Analyst Downgrades: The Coca-Cola Co, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR), and Fidus Investment Corp

Analysts downwardly revised their ratings and price targets on softdrink giant The Coca-Cola Co (KO), biotech Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR) (TEVA), and finance stock Fidus Investment Corp (FDUS)

Jan 9, 2017 at 10:41 AM

Analysts are weighing in on soft drink giant The Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO), biotech Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:TEVA), and finance stock Fidus Investment Corp (NASDAQ:FDUS). Here's a quick roundup of today's bearish analyst notes on KO, TEVA, and FDUS.

KO is down 1% at $41.34, after a downgrade to "sell" from "neutral" by Goldman Sachs, which also lowered its price target on the shares to $39 from $41. Goldman Sachs analyst Judy Hong said, "We expect KO to be a relative underperformer in staples again in 2017," and predicted lackluster earnings this year. KO is down more than 12% since its April highs, with rebound attempts halted at the stock's 80-day trendline. In the option pits, it looks like there's a number of bulls betting on some upside for The Coca-Cola Co -- despite its history as one of the worst January stocks -- with KO's 10-day call/put volume ratio at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) showing 4.82 calls bought to open for every put over the last two weeks, a reading that sits just 4 percentage points from an annual peak.
TEVA is trading 0.5% higher at $35.27, even as analyst backlash continues to pour in following Friday's disappointing profit forecast. Since Friday, TEVA has been hit with a downgrade to "hold" from "buy" by Maxim, and no fewer than nine price-target cuts, including today's drop to $40 from $46 by Goldman Sachs. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR) shares have plummeted more than 30% since September -- hitting a nine-year low in early December -- with a recent rally attempt quickly halted at its 50-day moving average. Elsewhere, puts have been unusually popular among near-term option players, with TEVA's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.74 sitting in the 73rd percentile of its annual range.
FDUS is down 3.9% at $16, after a downgrade to "neutral" from "outperform" by Baird. The shares have been slowly stair-stepping higher since bottoming out at $11.31 last January, and seem to have found a foothold near the $15.50-$15.70 level, currently home to their 160-day and 200-day moving averages. Elsewhere, short sellers are exiting their positions, with Fidus Investment Corp's short interest down nearly 43.4% over the last two reporting periods.

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