Analyst Upgrades: Sarepta Therapeutics, GoPro, BlackBerry

Analysts are weighing in today on biopharmaceutical company Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRPT), wearable camera producer GoPro Inc (NASDAQ:GPRO), and smartphone manufacturer BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on SRPT, GPRO, and BBRY.

• SRPT is up close to 7% in pre-market action, after BofA-Merrill Lynch raised its price target by $2 to $21, and revised its opinion to "buy" from "neutral." The brokerage firm also hiked its probability of U.S. approval of eteplirsen, Sarepta's experimental muscle disorder drug, to 50% from 40%. As of Friday's close at $12.76, the shares are in a nearly 12% hole year-to-date, which likely has many traders smiling. Over 36% of Sarepta Therapeutics Inc's float is sold short, accounting for four weeks of trading, at typical daily volumes. Most analysts remain unsure of the stock as well, with 73% of covering brokerage firms issuing lukewarm "hold" ratings.


• GPRO has struggled thus far in 2015, losing over 28% to finish at $45.27 on Friday. In fact, in the past three months, the shares have underperformed the S&P 500 Index (SPX) by over 47 percentage points. Northland Capital doesn't mind, though, as it started coverage on the camera maker with an "outperform" rating and $70 price target. The brokerage firm apparently isn't the only one still bullish on GoPro, Inc. The equity's consensus 12-month price target of $64.82 stands at a 43.2% premium to current levels. Elsewhere, at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), speculators have bought to open 1.73 GPRO calls for every put in the past 10 days. Ahead of the bell, GPRO is pointed 1.4% higher.


• This morning, Cowen and Company raised its price target for BBRY to $10 from $9 -- a mark the shares already surpassed on Friday, finishing at $10.09. The brokerage firm maintained its "market perform" recommendation on the security, which has tacked on 12.4% in the past 52 weeks. Despite BlackBerry Ltd's success on the charts, most analysts remain unconvinced. Specifically, 83% of brokerage firms tracking the equity deem it a "hold" or worse. Not only that, but options traders too are pessimistic toward BBRY. At the ISE, CBOE, and PHLX, the stock's 10-day put/call volume ratio of 0.57 ranks higher than 90% of all such readings from the past year. If the shares can regain momentum, a round of analyst upgrades and/or a reversal of speculator sentiment could provide a boost. In electronic trading, BBRY is flirting with a 0.3% lead.