Analyst Update: Goldcorp, Sirius XM, Monster Beverage

Analysts are weighing in today on gold producer Goldcorp Inc. (USA) (NYSE:GG), satellite radio broadcaster Sirius XM Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:SIRI), and energy drink maker Monster Beverage Corp (NASDAQ:MNST). Here's a quick look at today's brokerage notes on GG, SIRI, and MNST.

• GG was the recipient of five analysts notes, with Raymond James upping its rating on the stock to "strong buy" from "outperform," and Credit Suisse boosting its price target to $26 from $24 (and reiterating its own "outperform" opinion). RBC, TD Securities, and Cowen and Company, however, all cut their price targets on Goldcorp Inc. (USA), with the latter issuing the most extreme of the bunch, with a reduction to $18.70 from $19.51. The security has subsequently lost 6% to trade at $20.13, bringing its year-over-year deficit to 9.5%. Speculators have remained stubbornly bullish toward GG, though, as more than seven calls have been bought to open for every put at International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) in the past 10 sessions. The resultant call/put volume ratio of 7.25 ranks higher than 92% of all similar readings taken in the last year. A capitulation among these bullish bettors could result in headwinds for GG.


• Morgan Stanley raised its price target on SIRI to $3.90 and reaffirmed its "equal weight" opinion. Since then, the stock has added 0.3% to trade at $3.59. Looking at the charts, Sirius XM Holdings Inc. has been a laggard, dropping 2.2% year-over-year. Traders have responded to the stock's technical struggles by placing bearish bets. Specifically, 6.7% of SIRI's float is sold short, and would take over six sessions to repurchase, at its average daily pace of trading.


• MNST is 2.2% higher today at $114.41, as a price-target hike from Stifel to $130 from $115 (and reaffirmed "buy" rating) outweighs a downgrade to "market perform" from "outperform" at Wells Fargo. The security has already proven its technical strength by outperforming the S&P 500 Index (SPX) by over 13 percentage points in the past three months, but more upside could be on the way. For instance, sentiment in Monster Beverage Corp's options pits is mostly bearish, with its 10-day ISE/CBOE/PHLX put/call volume ratio of 4.07 sitting only 1 percentage point from an annual high. Though some of this activity could have been at the hands of shareholders hedging against a short-term drop in the underlying, an exodus of "vanilla" bears could spell tailwinds for MNST.