Analyst Upgrades: Amazon.com, Baxter, and OvaScience

Analysts upwardly revised their ratings and price targets on Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN), Baxter International Inc (BAX), and OvaScience Inc (OVAS)

May 10, 2016 at 10:09 AM

Analysts are weighing in on e-tail stock Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), healthcare products producer Baxter International Inc (NYSE:BAX), and fertility firm OvaScience Inc (NASDAQ:OVAS). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on AMZN, BAX, and OVAS.

AMZN announced the launch of the YouTube-like Amazon Video Direct this morning, and also received a price-target hike at Bernstein to $1,000 from $770 -- all-time-high territory for the shares. Out of the gate, the stock is 2.7% higher at $698.31, bringing its modest year-to-date lead to 3.3% -- but, earlier, it touched a record high of $699.71. Meanwhile, short-term options traders have been more put-skewed than usual toward Amazon.com, Inc. The stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.29 ranks in the 83rd percentile of its annual range. Looking ahead, AMZN's annual shareholder meeting is scheduled to take place one week from today.

BAX is down 0.4% at $45 -- though it's just below its May 9 record high of $45.52 -- even after the drugmaker upped its earnings outlook for 2018 through 2020. Likewise, the company said it expects to generate a free cash flow of $1.75 billion by the end of the decade. Leerink, Cowen, and UBS responded by upwardly revising their price targets on Baxter International Inc. Future upgrades are a possibility, as well, considering 10 of 11 analysts rate the stock a "hold" or worse. One potential catalyst for more upbeat attention is today's BofA-Merrill Lynch Health Care Conference, with BAX set to make an appearance this afternoon.

OVAS has soared 4.9% to trade at $7.42, following a price-target hike to $8 from $7 at Ladenburg Thalmann. That said, since its late-April peak of $11.66, the stock has surrendered 36% of its value, and is now testing a potential layer of resistance in the form of its 80-day moving average. Short sellers may be uneasy amid OvaScience Inc's upside move this morning. A lofty 32.4% of the stock's float is sold short, and it would take over four weeks to cover these positions, based on OVAS' average daily trading volume.

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