Analyst Upgrades: Groupon Inc, Cree, Inc., and Century Aluminum Co

Analysts upwardly revised their ratings and price targets on Groupon Inc (GRPN), Cree, Inc. (CREE), and Century Aluminum Co (CENX)

Feb 22, 2016 at 9:24 AM

Analysts are weighing in on online coupon stock Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN), lighting specialist Cree, Inc. (NASDAQ:CREE), and aluminum producer Century Aluminum Co (NASDAQ:CENX). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on GRPN, CREE, and CENX.

Goldman Sachs raised its price target on GRPN to $3.90 from $3.50 -- still shy of the Friday's close at $4.09 -- sending the shares 6.4% higher in pre-market trading. Since hitting a record low of $2.15 last Thursday, Groupon Inc has popped 90%, thanks to strong fourth-quarter earnings and news that Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) has taken a stake in the company -- and could possibly be interested in a buyout. The equity is now up 33% year-to-date and could stand to benefit from more bullish analyst attention -- at present, 12 of 15 brokerages providing coverage rate GRPN a "hold" or worse.

CREE is set to pop 4.8% out of the gate, after settling at $30.30 on Friday, thanks to an upgrade to "overweight" from "neutral" at Piper Jaffray. The brokerage firm also increased its price target on Cree, Inc. to $37 from $27. The stock has been trending higher since beating earnings expectations in late January, and is ahead nearly 14% so far in 2016. Option traders appear to be eyeing more upside, as well. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), CREE has a 10-day call/put volume ratio of 6.82 -- indicating nearly seven CREE calls have been bought for each put over the last two weeks -- a reading in the 86th percentile of its annual range.

CENX received a price-target hike from Deutsche Bank to $6 from $4 -- in line with the stock's Friday close of $5.96. Century Aluminum Co, which is pointed 2.4% higher this morning, has added nearly 127% since hitting a six-year low of $2.63 in mid-January. In fact, the shares have outperformed the S&P 500 Index (SPX) by a whopping 80 percentage points over the past three months, on a relative-strength basis. Still, only three brokerages are following CENX, and each of them currently give the stock a lukewarm "hold" rating.

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