Bank of American double downgraded DISH Network stock to "underperform"
Amid a double-downgrade from Bank of America and a multi-day service outage, shares of DISH Network Corp (NASDAQ:DISH) are 6.6% lower this morning to trade at $11.40.
Bank of America adjusted its rating to "underperform" from "buy" and cut its target price to $10 from $30, predicting the shares could fall nearly 20% -- adding to already hefty year-to-date and year-over-year deficits -- with difficult months ahead. Goldman Sachs also weighed in, slashing its target price to $13 from $14.
In other news, Dish Network's websites and customer service phone lives have been down since Thursday, Feb. 23, just after the telecom firm reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street's estimates. The company called the problems an "internal system issue," and it's continuing to investigate the cause of the outage.
There's plenty of room for covering brokerages to follow Bank of America's lead. Coming into today, eight still called DISH a "strong buy," compared to four "hold" and one "sell" ratings. Plus, the 12-month consensus price target of $30.69 is a massive 151.6% premium to last night's close. Both of these leave the stock open to further downgrades and/or price-target cuts.
Options traders are understandably excited. Within the first half hour of trading, 7,833 puts and 3,289 calls have already been traded, or six times the intraday average volume. Most popular is the September 10 puts, while new positions are being opened at the second most active contract, the June 12.50 call.
Regarding Dish Network stock's technical setup, its down 61.8% in the last 12 months, 13.1% lower in 2023, and on track for its worst monthly loss since September. DISH is trading at its lowest level since 2009.