Analyst Upgrades: Amazon.com, Inc., ZS Pharma Inc, and Oracle Corporation

Analysts upwardly revised their ratings and price targets on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), ZS Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:ZSPH), and Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)

Josh Selway

Sep 11, 2015 at 9:10 AM

Analysts are weighing in on e-tailer Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), biotech ZS Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:ZSPH), and software giant Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on AMZN, ZSPH, and ORCL.

AMZN is pointed slightly lower ahead of the open, even after RBC raised its price target to $705 from $650 -- record-high waters. This bullish attention reflects the general opinion on the Street, where 23 of 29 brokerage firms call Amazon.com, Inc. a "buy" or better. However, even though the shares have added over 68% this year to trade at $522.24, bearish betting has been popular in the options pits. AMZN's 10-day International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) put/call volume ratio of 1.11 is only 2 percentage points from an annual high.

ZSPH added over 28% yesterday, touching an all-time high of $84.85 before closing at $74.73, on news the company is in M&A talks with fellow drugmaker Actelion Ltd. This momentum appears ready to carry over into today, with the shares positioned 5.7% higher in electronic trading. Providing an extra boost is a price-target hike to $110 at William Blair, which would mark an all-time high for ZS Pharma Inc. Considering ZSPH's recent technical performance, though, nothing is out of the question -- the shares have surged 89.6% in the past 12 months.

It hasn't been a great time for ORCL shareholders, with the security lagging the S&P 500 Index (SPX) by nearly 10 percentage points during the past three months, last seen a $37.61. Additionally, the shares have struggled against their 20-day trendline over this same time frame. However, BTIG started ORCL with a "buy" rating this morning, although the bullish attention has done little to move the pre-market needle. This lackluster price action will most likely be well-received in the options pits, considering ORCL's 10-day put/call volume ratio at the ISE, CBOE, and PHLX stands at an annual high of 4.37. In other words, puts have been bought to open over calls at an annual-high clip.

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