Stocks quoted in this article:
Analysts are weighing in today on social networking site Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB - 24.00), mobile phone issue Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK - 3.56), and Internet giant Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO - 18.57). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes.
- Up more than 3% in pre-market action, FB was upgraded to "outperform" from "market perform," and received a price-target hike to $33 from $23 at Bernstein this morning. The equity has advanced roughly 14% so far this month -- while also besting the broader S&P 500 Index (SPX) by about 24 percentage points during the past 60 sessions -- yet near-term speculation on FB remains pessimistically skewed. The stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) checks in at 1.24, confirming puts outstrip calls among options expiring within the next three months.
- Despite a year-over-year loss of nearly 33%, NOK saw its price target lifted to $4 from $3 at RBC today, after the company revealed two new cellphone models -- one of which will feature a dedicated Facebook button. Meanwhile, skepticism has been running high toward the shares lately. Short interest on NOK rose by more than 6% during the most recent reporting period, and these bearish bets now account for around 9% of the equity's available float. It would take more than six days to buy back these shorted shares, at the stock's average pace of trading.
- YHOO was raised to "conviction buy" from "buy" and scored an upward price-target adjustment to $24 from $22 at Goldman Sachs ahead of the open -- a move that could add to the stock's year-to-date gain of more than 15%. In the options pits, calls bought to open have more than quadrupled puts during the past few months, as evidenced by the security's 50-day International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) call/put volume ratio of 4.48. This ratio is just seven percentage points shy of a bullish peak, meaning traders have rarely bought calls over puts at a faster clip during the past year.
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