Shares of eBay Drop on Downgrade

This from Shaeffer's Daily Market Blog:

The shares of eBay have dropped more than 4% this afternoon following a Stifel Nicolaus downgrade from "buy" to "hold." At the moment, the security is not a particular favorite on Wall Street. According to Zacks, the stock has earned 8 "buy" ratings, 13 "holds," and 2 "sells." However, there is still room for additional downgrades to plague the shares.

The security could also see price-target cuts. According to Thomson Financial, the stock's average 12-month price target stands at $18.50. This reading implies that investors are expecting the shares to rally more than 36% during the next 12 months.

While the stock has bounced back from its November lows, it is still encountering resistance at its descending 10-week moving average. eBay has not logged a weekly close above this trendline since late May.

Despite the stock's technical struggles, options players are extremely optimistic toward eBay. The Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio rests at 0.44, as call open interest more than doubles put open interest among near-term options. This reading is lower than 93% of all those taken during the past year. Overall, this lingering optimism combined with the stock's technical weakness has bearish implications from a contrarian perspective.