Analyst Upgrades: Apple, Amazon.com, and Coach

Analysts upwardly revised their ratings on Apple Inc. (AAPL), Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN), and Coach Inc (COH)

Josh Selway

Feb 19, 2015 at 9:28 AM

Analysts are weighing in today on iPhone maker Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), online marketplace Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), and luxury retailer Coach Inc (NYSE:COH). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on AAPL, AMZN, and COH.

AAPL is in the news yet again, as electric-car battery producer A123 Systems is filing suit against the tech company for reportedly poaching its engineers. Elsewhere, RBC increased its price target on Apple Inc. by $10 to $140, representing an 8.8% premium to yesterday's close at $128.71. Still, AAPL is 0.2% lower ahead of the bell. In the past 52 weeks, AAPL has been booming, adding close to 68%, and the Street is firmly behind the shares. Twenty-four of the 30 brokerage firms covering AAPL rate it a "buy" or better.

Last night, Piper Jaffray boosted its price target on AMZN to $475 from $420, and kept its "overweight" recommendation. The price marks a 27.2% increase from the shares' settling price of $373.37 yesterday, and stands in territory never before charted. Amazon.com, Inc. has added 20% in 2015, but short-term speculators have remained put-skewed. In fact, the equity's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.36 is only 7 percentage points from an annual high. In electronic trading, AMZN is 0.2% higher.

COH is receiving bullish analyst attention, after yesterday declaring a quarterly dividend. Specifically, Nomura bumped its price target to $48 from $45, while Topeka Capital raised its price target to $44 from $40, and upped its outlook to "buy" from "hold." While from a broader perspective Coach Inc has struggled on the charts -- off 17% in the past year -- it has seen brighter days in 2015, adding 5.7% since the start of the year to finish yesterday at $39.70. The technical turnaround has spawned a new wave of call buying in COH's options pits. In the past 10 days at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), speculators have bought to open nearly six COH calls for every put. The resulting call/put volume ratio of 5.96 ranks higher than 91% of all such readings from the past year. The shares were last seen 0.8% higher in pre-market action.

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