Struggling Nvidia Stock Slapped With Bear Note

NVDA has shed nearly half its value since Oct. 2

Perhaps no stock has fallen further from grace during the broad market sell-off than Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA). Today, the chip stock is down 0.6% in electronic trading, after RBC trimmed its price target to $230 from $260, but even that still represents a 55% premium to yesterday's closing perch of $148.19. Also adding pressure is a report out of Bloomberg yesterday that SoftBank could soon sell its stake in the company.

Nvidia stock sat at a record high of $292.76 on Oct. 2. Since then, a number of bear gaps have dragged NVDA lower to shed more than half of its value, form a death cross, and hit an annual low of $133.31 on Nov. 20. And even a subsequent rally from that bottom was turned away by the shares' 20-day moving average.

Analysts for the most part remain committed to the equity. Of the 26 brokerages covering NVDA, 16 rate it a "buy" or better, with only one "sell" on the books. What's more, the stock's consensus 12-month price target of $228.88 is right in line with RBC's bear note today, but still a ways away from its current levels.

In the options pits, the security's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) comes in at 0.76, which ranks in the lowest annual percentile. In other words, options traders seem relatively upbeat amid this steady downtrend, with data showing a higher-than-normal preference for near-term calls over puts.