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Analysts issued bullish notes on NOK, GS, and TSCO
Analysts are upwardly revising their ratings on telecom concern Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK), blue-chip financial firm Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), and farm supply specialist Tractor Supply Company (NASDAQ:TSCO). Here's a quick look at today's bullish brokerage notes on NOK, GS, and TSCO.
- NOK is up 5% at the open to trade at $8.30 -- moving into the black on a year-to-date basis -- after its better-than-expected third-quarter earnings report was met with a price-target hike to 7.49 euros from 7.41 euros at Jefferies, which also underscored its "buy" rating. Today's post-earnings pop could come as a disappointment to option traders, who were upping the bearish ante on Nokia Corporation (ADR) ahead of last night's results. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), for example, the stock's 10-day put/call volume ratio of 0.69 ranks higher than 95% of similar readings taken in the past year.
- Deutsche Bank weighed in on a number of banks this morning, and for GS, this meant a price-target hike to $195 from $181 -- representing expected upside of 8.9% to the stock's current perch at $179.08, and a move into six-year-high territory. On the charts, Goldman Sachs Group Inc has put in an uninspiring performance in 2014, with the shares just above their year-to-date breakeven mark. However, sentiment among options traders remains optimistic, per the equity's 10-day ISE/CBOE/PHLX call/put volume ratio of 2.23, which ranks in the bullishly skewed 72nd percentile of its annual range. Additionally, short interest accounts for a low 2.2% of the stock's available float, and would take just over three sessions to cover, at the equity's average daily pace of trading.
- TSCO rallied more than 11% right out of the gate to $68.98, thanks to a stronger-than-forecast third-quarter earnings report and an upbeat full-year outlook. The news was met with no fewer than eight price-target hikes, as well as an upgrade to "strong buy" from "market perform" at Raymond James. Heading into today's session, Tractor Supply Company was sitting on a roughly 21% year-to-date deficit, and more recently, was feeling the heat from its 120-day moving average, currently located at $62.66. As such, short sellers have been increasing their presence in recent weeks. Specifically, short interest rose 11.4% over the last two reporting periods, and it would take more than six sessions to cover these shorted shares, at TSCO's average daily pace of trading.