Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) is the talk of Wall Street today, last seen down 9.4% to trade at $108.23. The chipmaker is getting bashed after a lackluster fourth-quarter report that saw a top-line beat overshadowed by its data center arm reporting less-than-stellar revenue estimates.
AMD earlier traded at a two-year low of $106.50, and is on track for its worst single-session decline since its Oct. 30 post-earnings bear gap. The shares have carved a channel of lower lows since October, and are now down 35.3% in the last 12 months. The days of trading up at $227.30 on March 8 of last year are long gone.
With the chip stock stuck in a serious slide, a rush of bear notes today are exacerbating matters. No fewer than 17 brokerages trimmed their price targets, the worst coming from Wells Fargo to $140 from $165. Citigroup came in the hottest though, downgrading the security to "neutral" from "buy."
More revisions could weigh on the equity going forward. Of the 39 brokerages covering AMD, 29 maintain "buy" or better ratings, with zero "sells" on the books, while its 12-month consensus price target of $154.54 is a 43% premium to the stock's current perch.
Options traders are feasting today. At last check, over 1.07 million contracts have exchanged hands, volume that's triple the average intraday amount. Calls are winning out on an absolute basis, with the weekly 2/7 110-strike call the most popular.
