Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to "underweight"
Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA) stock is down 2.1% at $24.48 this morning, following a downgrade from Morgan Stanley to "underweight" from "equal-weight," and earlier hit a two-year low of $24.68. The analyst cited a potential pullback in advertisers and customers as an economic recession looms.
PARA is no stranger to bearish analyst coverage. Last week, Barclays slashed its price target to $20 from $24. The stock's 12-month consensus price target of $33.37 is a 35.7% premium to current levels. Meanwhile, seven of the 15 analysts in coverage called PARA a "hold" coming into today, while nine said "hold" or worse.
It's been a fairly dismal couple of months on the charts for Paramount stock, which saw its late-May rally running out of steam at the 180-day moving average before plummeting to a two-year low of $23.69 by mid-June. The stock has stuck close to this low in the following weeks, kept in check by pressure at the 20-day moving average, and finally dipped just below it today. Year-over-year, PARA has lost nearly 40%.
While short interest has dropped slightly in the last reporting period, these bears are still firmly in control. Short interest makes up 9.2% of the stock's available float, or over a week's worth of pent-up buying power.