From Schaeffer's Research:
Agricultural stocks are attracting the attention of speculative investors today, thanks to an early morning brokerage note from Goldman Sachs. The firm downgraded both Mosaic Company (MOS) and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (POT) from "buy" to "neutral," and lowered its price targets on both equities. Analyst Robert Koort cited lower prices for potash, nitrogen, and phosphate for the bearish note.
As a result, put volume on Mosaic Company (MOS) has spiked to three times the usual level this afternoon. Traders are paying particular attention to the equity's April 55 strike, where 3,567 puts have changed hands so far. Implied volatility is up 2.7%, pointing to rising demand for this soon-to-expire option.
However, the day's bearish bias is simply more of the same for MOS. The stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) stands at 0.69, which ranks higher than 87% of other such readings taken during the previous year. In other words, short-term speculators have been more pessimistically aligned toward MOS just 13% of the time.
MOS is down more than 3% at last check, with the equity threatening to breach short-term support from the $55 level. This formerly resistant chart region has provided a floor for MOS since late November 2009....MORE
