Downgrade Drags EBAY Stock Even Lower

The retail stock is on track to carve out a new annual low this morning

The shares of eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) are 5.8% lower ahead of the bell, after Stifel downgraded the retail stock to "hold" from "buy," while slashing its price target to $35 from $43. The analyst in coverage cited weakening gross merchandise volume (GMV) trends, which were highlighted in PayPal's (PYPL) quarterly report last night.

Should today's price action pan out, eBay stock would hit a new annual low. It's been rough sledding for the security in 2018, carving out a channel of lower highs and lows since early February. The shares are on track for their fifth straight weekly loss, with breakout attempts during this span thwarted by their 50-day moving average.

Despite the equity's struggles, there is ample room aboard the bearish bandwagon. Short interest fell in the most recent reporting period to 19.12 million, the lowest amount since August 2017. This represents a meager 2.1% of EBAY's total available float, and 1.8 times the average daily trading volume.

Analysts have been hesitant to ditch the struggling retailer. Of the 26 brokerages covering EBAY, 15 still rate it a "buy" or "strong buy," with zero "sells" on the books. Furthermore, the stock's consensus 12-month price target sits up at $43.63, a 38% premium to last night's closing price of $31.55.