Symantec makes to “Most Dangerous Stocks” list.
Posted on June 5, 2008
A few days ago our friends over at New Constructs released their Most Dangerous Stocks for June list and we couldn’t help but note that SYMC was added to the large cap list.
The stock has had a great short term rally since we published our research note on April 30th, highlighting the challenges the company is facing in their core market according to their customers. We recommended it as a short but on a fundamental versus a trading basis.
With the stock up from $17 and change to about $21 we feel the short is looking more attractive. Our price target remains $14.
The company will be hosting their analyst meeting on June 12th and we expect more general enthusiasm around the meeting since management is very good at telling analysts and investors what they want to hear.
Insiders have been selling heavily with no buying. The CEO, John Thompson, has taken $3.5M out in May alone.
Sentiment on the name has improved but there continues to be room for more upside if management gets more analysts over to their way of thinking around the meeting. Despite the recent stock move analyst community is mostly at a Hold (20) with 12 at Strong Buy/Buy and 1 lone Sell rating.
We’re currently short the name but secretly hoping for some further share appreciation and further confirmation of our concerns on the fundamentals.
Anyone long or short SYMC should read the research note above as it contains quite a bit of customer data that loudly suggests management is out of the loop on the fundamentals.
– Kris Tuttle
Tags: SYMC, Short Ideas, Analyst Meeting
Comments
Leave a Comment
If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.