Analyst Upgrades: Best Buy, Rackspace Hosting, Zynga

Analysts are weighing in today on electronics retailer Best Buy Co Inc (NYSE:BBY), cloud company Rackspace Hosting, Inc. (NYSE:RAX), and social game maker Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on BBY, RAX, and ZNGA.

• Despite losing 13% year-to-date to settle Monday at $34.71, BBY saw its price target lifted to $40 from $38 at SunTrust Robinson, which also underscored its "buy" rating. On the charts, the stock has spent most of the year attempting to close a mid-January bearish gap, which resulted from disappointing holiday sales numbers. Speaking of which, Best Buy Co Inc announced its stores will open to holiday shoppers at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day -- Thursday, Nov. 27 -- but will not stay open all night, as they did last year. Meanwhile, at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), the stock's 10-day call/put volume ratio sits at an annual extreme of 13.80, with nearly 14 calls bought to open for every put during the past two weeks. However, a portion of these bullish bets may have been initiated by short sellers as a hedge -- after all, more than 10% of BBY's float is sold short.


• RAX posted an earnings beat last night, and was met with a trio of price-target hikes this morning. Specifically, Cowen raised its price target to $65 from $57, RBC upped its target to $39 from $33, and Jefferies bumped its target to $38 from $35. The three also reiterated their respective opinions on the shares -- "outperform," "sector perform," and "hold." On the charts, it's been a tough year for Rackspace Hosting, Inc., which has tumbled 24.3% over the previous 52 weeks to its current perch at $37.32. Not surprisingly, the stock's 10-day ISE/CBOE/PHLX put/call volume ratio of 0.89 ranks just 14 percentage points from an annual bearish acme, and 11.7% of its float is sold short -- which would take a week to cover, at RAX's typical daily trading levels.


• Finally, ZNGA is up nearly 6% ahead of the bell, following an upgrade to "buy" from "hold" at Jefferies. The bullish note is rare for the gaming stock, which has plunged 34.7% year-to-date to trade at $2.48. Among the 16 brokerage firms covering Zynga Inc, 12 rate it a "hold" and two give it a "sell," versus just a pair of "strong buys." Elsewhere, short interest rose 7.3% during the latest reporting period, and now accounts for 8.4% of ZNGA's total float.