Baird sees a new record low ahead for the shares
Drugmaker Audentes Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:BOLD) is down 1.4% at $27.32 today, after Baird initiated coverage on the stock with an "underperform" rating. The analyst also slapped BOLD with a $10 price target, which is roughly a 64% discount to last night's close of $27.69, and would represent a new record low for the stock.
Generally, analysts have been quite bullish on the pharma name. Prior to today, nine in coverage called BOLD a "buy" or better, while only two said "hold" or worse. What's more, the stock's consensus 12-month price target of $43 sits near its June 2018 all-time peak, and holds a 57.7% premium to current levels.
While the security is still up 28.7% for the year, it has lost about 31% since running out of steam at the $40.50 region in late July. The 40-day moving average contained BOLD's last attempt at a rally. Now, it's testing support at the $26 area -- near where the equity was trading prior to a February bull gap.
In the options pits, traders have tended toward bearish bets, with 4.13 long puts bought for every call in the past 10 weeks. This is echoed in the equity's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.06, which sits in the 90th percentile of its annual range, suggesting short-term options players have rarely been more put-heavy during the past 12 months.
Short sellers have been upping the bearish ante too, with short interest rising 5.4% in the last two reporting periods, to 2.03 million shares sold short. This represents a healthy 7.3% of the stock's available float, and nearly a week's worth of buying demand, at its average pace of trading.