The U.S. experienced a widespread hack in early December
The shares of FireEye Inc (NASDAQ:FEYE) are down 7.8% to trade at $22.16, following another update in the large hacking incident involving several U.S. government agencies and businesses weighs on the sector. The massive computer hack was first discovered by FireEye, when it announced its internal hacking tools were stolen earlier this month. Since then, the scope of the breach has snowballed, as more is uncovered throughout the world regarding the suspected Russian cyber attack.
Today's drop has the stock falling from yesterday's five-year high of $25.53, and on track to snap its four-day winning streak. Regardless, the equity remains up 54.4% for the week.
Analysts are split on FEYE, with five sporting a "buy" or better rating on the stock, and six a "hold" or worse. Meanwhile, the 12-month consensus price target of $17.71 is an 18.8% discount to current levels.
Short interest has been building, up 13.4% during the last reporting period. Now, the 25.93 million shares sold short make up 12.2% of the stock's available float, and would take nearly seven days to cover, at FireEye stock's average pace of trading.
FireEye stock is seeing a surge of options activity this Christmas Eve. So far, 83,000 calls and 27,000 puts have crossed the tape -- three times what's typically seen at this point. The January 2021 27-strike call is the most popular, with new positions being opened.