Shares of Nike (NYSE:NKE) are down 3.3% to trade at $41.25 after J.P. Morgan Securities downgraded the athletic apparel maker to "underweight" from "neutral," and lowered its price target to $47 from $40. The bearish move was justified by the financial impacts from Nike's 'WinNow' turnaround strategy.
The equity has yet to recover from its early-April bear gap, most recently seeing pressure from the 80-day moving average. Year-to-date, the equity has declined 33%.
The brokerage bunch is leaning bearish on Nike. Of the 36 analysts in coverage, 23 sport a "hold" or worse rating while 13 rate the stock a "buy" or "strong buy." Meanwhile, short interest represents 5.4% of the stock's available float.
Nike's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 38% stands higher than just 26% of all other readings from the past year, implying that near-term option traders are pricing in relatively low volatility expectations.
