At least 10 brokerage firms slashed the e-commerce giant's target price
The shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) are plummeting today, last seen down 4.5% to trade at $3,291, after the company reported a third-quarter earnings and revenue miss. The e-commerce giant also logged its slowest growth rate in six years, noting higher labor costs and shortages have hindered its plans to make one-day deliveries the standard for Prime members.
The brokerage bunch is already chiming in on the results. The security received at least 10 price-target cuts this morning, including a hefty one from Raymond James to $3,840. Meanwhile, three other firms have raised their price objectives. Analysts are bullish on AMZN, with all 31 in coverage boasting a "buy" or better rating. Plus, the equity's 12-month consensus target price of $4,112.12 is a 24.9% premium to current levels.
The last time we checked on Amazon.com stock, it had been flirting with a historically bullish trendline. The equity has experienced bouts of volatility since surging to a July 13, record high of $3,773.07, recently bouncing off a familiar floor $3,180 level. Year-to-date, AMZN is up a slim 2.2%.
The options pits are singing to a more bearish tune. This is per the stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.17, which sits in 96th percentile of the past 12 months. In simpler terms, short-term traders have rarely been more put-biased in the past year.
Drilling down to today's options activity, 91,000 calls and 45,000 puts have exchanged hands so far, which is five times the intraday average. Most popular is the weekly 10/29 3,400-strike call, where new positions are currently being opened, followed by the 3,600-strike call in the same series, both of which expire at the end of today's session.