Mylan Stock Under Pressure After FDA Letter

MYL has run into familiar resistance at its 160-day trendline

The shares of Mylan N.V. (NASDAQ:MYL) are down 0.6% to trade at $33.70 this morning, after the drugmaker disclosed a warning letter from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) dated Nov. 9, detailing concerns about conditions at afacility in West Virginia. Cantor Fitzgerald maintained its price target of $41, saying this is a "negative for MYL and creates an overhang on the stock."

On the charts, its been a volatile few months for Mylan stock. The drug name fell to an annual low of $30.33 on Oct. 25, but then a few short weeks later gapped higher after an upbeat quarterly report. However, the shares' rally lost steam at their 160-day moving average, a trendline that has put a lid on any breakouts since June.

Despite the stock shedding 20% in 2019, sentiment surrounding the drug stock remains bullish. Ten of the 14 brokerages covering MYL rate it a "buy" or better, while short interest on the security plummeted 18% in the last reporting period to 9.81 shares, the lowest level in more than 10 years.

In the options pits though, put buying has been gaining in popularity. MYL's 10-day put/call volume ratio of 2.73 on the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) ranks in the 100th percentile of its annual range, indicating that speculators have shown a much healthier-than-usual appetite for bearish bets during the past two weeks.

Echoing this, the equity's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) stands at 0.71, which also arrives in the 80th percentile of its annual range. In other words, speculators are more put-skewed than normal among options set to expire within three months.