Buzz Stocks: Yahoo! Inc., ABIOMED, Inc., and Sony Corporation

Markets are poised to bounce back from Tuesday's steep losses, thanks to a round of well-received earnings reports. Elsewhere on the corporate front, today's stocks to watch include Internet issue Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), medical device maker ABIOMED, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABMD), and media and electronics firm Sony Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNE).

• YHOO is up more than 4% in electronic trading, after the company announced it would spin off its $40 billion stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) into a separate investment company, SpinCo. The news was met with a round of bullish brokerage notes, including one from Jefferies, which boosted its price target by $8 to $61, and Cantor, which raised its target price by $17 to $60, with both brokerage firms reiterating their "buy" ratings. What's more, just two days after cutting its price target on YHOO, FBR upped its outlook by $2 to $58. Should Yahoo! Inc. continue to add to its 25.6% year-over-year advance, another round of price-target hikes could be on the horizon. At present, the stock's average 12-month price target of $51.36 stands at a slim 7% premium to last night's close at $47.99.


• ABMD is ready to rally 38% out of the gate -- and into record-high territory -- after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval for the firm's heart pump, Impella RP. Additionally, ABIOMED, Inc. reported better-than-expected fiscal third-quarter earnings results, and upped its full-year revenue forecast. Wall Street was quick to weigh in on the news, with Jefferies raising its price target by $11 to $56, and Northland Securities upwardly revising its rating to "market perform" from "underperform." More bullish brokerage notes could come down the pike, considering the majority of analysts covering the shares currently maintain a "hold" or "strong sell" recommendation. Plus, the consensus 12-month price target of $38 stands at a discount to Tuesday's close at $38.63.


• SNE is reportedly planning to cut 1,000 jobs in its smartphone division -- adding to the 1,000 layoffs it announced in October -- sending the shares up nearly 4% ahead of the bell. On the charts, the stock has done well this year, tacking on nearly 13%. What's more, SNE hit a fresh three-year peak of $23.47 on Monday, before easing back to its current perch at $23.06. In spite of this, options traders have grown increasingly bearish, as evidenced by SNE's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.77, which ranks higher than 86% of similar readings taken in the past year. Simply stated, short-term speculators are more put-heavy than usual on Sony Corp.