Analyst Update: Teva Pharma, Illumina, Yandex

Analysts are weighing in today on drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:TEVA), molecular diagnostics firm Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN), and Russian search specialist Yandex NV (NASDAQ:YNDX). Here's a quick look at today's brokerage notes on TEVA, ILMN, and YNDX.

• TEVA touched a four-year high of $59.90 today, after Jefferies raised its price target to $65 -- territory never before explored -- and kept its "buy" rating. TEVA was last seen 1.1% higher at $58.38, bringing its year-over-year gain to nearly 29% -- helped by today's Supreme Court ruling on multiple sclerosis treatment Copaxone. Future bullish analyst notes could send Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR) even higher, if it can keep up today's momentum. While 12 of the 22 covering brokerage firms already rate it a "buy" or better, the remaining 10 maintain tepid "hold" recommendations. Plus, TEVA's consensus 12-month price target of $63.63 is just a stone's throw away from current trading levels.


• ILMN is up 5.3% today at $193.64, after Leerink suggested the stock could see a boost if President Barack Obama were to announce a new government genome initiative in his State of the Union address this evening. Though Illumina, Inc. has added more than 37% year-over-year, it has struggled recently, underperforming the S&P 500 Index (SPX) in the past three months. Still, options traders have kept the faith at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). Illumina, Inc.'s 10-day call/put volume ratio across these exchanges comes in at 3.02, ranking in the 81st percentile of its annual range. Simply put, speculators have bought to open calls over puts at a faster-than-normal rate in the past two weeks.


• Foreign currencies continue to affect the market, with Goldman Sachs citing an expected devaluation of the ruble in its downgrade of YNDX, which it cut to "sell" from "neutral," while slashing its price target to $14.80 from $29.30. The stock is down 8.6% today to trade at $16.42, meaning it has now lost over 62% of its value in the past 52 weeks. Unsurprisingly, near-term speculators have been targeting puts over calls at a blistering rate. In fact, Yandex NV's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.92 is the highest among all similar readings taken in the past year.