Price Targets For NUS Stock Cut In Half Following Forecast Change

NUS shares had already lost about half their value since an August peak

Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:NUS) is one of the biggest pre-market losers this morning, last seen 21.9% in the red shortly before the open after the direct selling company made a sizable adjustment to the downside in its full-year forecast. NUS told investors the change is due to a number of factors, most notably weakness in China, but also "media scrutiny" that has hurt its standing with consumers. A few analysts have weighed in on Nu Skin, as well.

Jefferies downgraded its opinion to "hold" from "buy" and cut its price target in half to $40, saying it did not see the announcement coming. D.A. Davidson also lowered its rating to "hold" and moved its price target to $38 from $88, and Stifel gave a price-target cut to $37 from $45. There were already two "sell" or "strong sell" ratings on the stock coming into today.

NUS was down roughly 50% from its August peak just shy of $89, and a breakout attempt back in May quickly disappeared after coming up a few points shy of the 200-day moving average. The shares hit a three-year low of $43.65 just yesterday.

Many bears were prepared for additional losses, based on data from the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). Almost nine puts were bought to open for every call during the past 10 days,and peak open interest is at the September 40 put. Meanwhile, short interest popped 21.5% in the last two reporting periods.