Analyst Upgrades: Clovis Oncology Inc, FedEx Corporation, and Etsy Inc

Analysts upwardly revised their ratings and price targets on Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS), FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX), and Etsy Inc (NASDAQ:ETSY)

Karee Venema

Sep 21, 2016 at 9:17 AM

Analysts are weighing in on cancer specialist Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS), package delivery name FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX), and retail stock Etsy Inc (NASDAQ:ETSY). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on CLVS, FDX, and ETSY.

Credit Suisse upgraded CLVS to "outperform" from "neutral" and boosted its price target to $41 from $19. The brokerage firm waxed optimistic on the company's M&A prospects -- saying the biotech could potentially fetch $52-$55 per share, with leveraged tax benefits. Stifel also chimed in, raising its price target to $45 from $30. After closing last night at $34.83, shares of Clovis Oncology Inc are up 7.1% in electronic trading. Longer term, the stock has tripled since hitting a three-year low of $11.57 in late June, but has run out of steam in the $35-$36 region -- home to its mid-November bear-gap highs. Short-term options traders, meanwhile, have shown a clear preference for calls over puts. The stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.37 ranks in the 21st annual percentile.

FDX is nearly 4% higher ahead of the bell, after the company's better-than-expected earnings and upbeat holiday outlook -- which includes expectations to add more than 50,000 seasonal positions -- was met with a round of applause on Wall Street. At least four analysts have increased their price targets on FedEx Corporation, with UBS' hike to $215 from $187 the most ambitious of the bunch. Not only does this represent expected upside of 32% to last night's close at $162.65, but it sits in uncharted territory. Today's projected price move is just more of the same for a security that's tacked on 9.2% year-to-date, and a continued rise could shake some of the weaker bearish hands loose. FDX's top-heavy SOIR of 1.89 rests higher than 87% of all comparable readings taken in the past year, meaning near-term traders have rarely been as put-heavy as they are now.

Monness Crespi Hardt upgraded ETSY to "buy" from "neutral" and boosted its price target to $17 from $13. The brokerage firm said that it believes "the next leg of the shares ... is up," given "underappreciated areas of the business that can yield positive surprises in the coming quarters." As such, shares of Etsy Inc have tacked on 2.2% in pre-market trading. Since gapping higher in early August on a solid earnings report, ETSY has been stuck trading in a tight range between $13.20 and $14.70. A break to the upside could have short sellers continuing to jump ship. Short interest declined 17% in the two most recent reporting periods, but at ETSY's average pace of trading, it would still take more than a week to cover the remaining bearish bets.

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