Analyst Upgrades: Nordstrom, Inc., Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., and Eli Lilly and Co

Analysts upwardly revised their ratings and price targets on retailer Nordstrom, Inc. (JWN), semiconductor stock Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), and biotech Eli Lilly and Co (LLY)

Jan 18, 2017 at 9:48 AM

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Analysts are weighing in on retailer Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE:JWN), semiconductor stock Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD), and biotech Eli Lilly and Co (NYSE:LLY). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on JWN, AMD, and LLY.

JWN is down 1.3% at $43.76, despite some bullish analyst attention from Credit Suisse, which upgraded JWN to "outperform" from "neutral," and issued a price-target hike to $58 from $48, calling Nordstrom, Inc. "one of the best franchises in the retail sector," and "differentiated from other mall anchors." In addition, the analyst predicted "outsized earnings growth relative to peers." Despite its history of outperforming in the first year of presidential cycles, JWN has stair-stepped nearly 14% lower over the past month, as brick-and-mortar retailers continue to report lackluster holiday sales. There are plenty of shorts rooting against the stock, with nearly 20% of JWN's float sold short, which would take nearly a week and a half to cover, at the equity's average daily volume.
AMD is 0.2% higher at $9.83, thanks to a price-target hike to $9 from $7 from Barclays. AMD absolutely crushed it in 2016, but has dropped more than 21% since tagging a nine-year high in late December, and yesterday ended lower for a fifth straight day. In the option pits, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.'s Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.98 is in the 90th percentile of its annual range, indicating near-term options traders are much more put-heavy than usual.
LLY is trading up 0.6% at $77.29, after news broke that the biotech would be purchasing CoLucid Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CLCD), which specializes in migraine medications, for $960 million. LLY also received a price-target hike to $92 from $85 by Goldman Sachs -- in annual-high territory. LLY is up 20% since its November lows, though the shares could be running into resistance at their 320-day moving average -- a trendline that blocked several other rally attempts over the past 12 months. In the option pits, Eli Lilly and Co's 10-day call/put volume ratio at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) of 9.67 sits just 8 percentage points from an annual peak, hinting at a much healthier-than-usual appetite for long calls over puts of late.

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