Analyst Upgrades: Netflix, AbbVie, Clovis Oncology

Analysts are weighing in today on streaming video giant Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), pharmaceutical name AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV), and biotech Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on NFLX, ABBV, and CLVS.

• NFLX stormed up the charts last week, adding 9.8% to settle at $454.57 on Friday. The shares benefited from some positive attention among analysts -- something that's again helping the stock in pre-market trading this morning. Specifically, UBS raised its opinion on Netflix, Inc. to "buy" from "neutral," while boosting its price target by nearly $200 -- to $565 from $370. The equity is prepared to jump 2.8% out of the gate, but it may not be done there. Fourteen brokerage firms still say NFLX is a "hold" or worse, and the stock is prepared to topple its average 12-month price target of $455.67 today. In other words, the shares could soon benefit from another round of analyst upgrades and/or price-target increases, which could result in tailwinds. Looking ahead, NFLX will report earnings this Wednesday evening.


• ABBV is 0.2% lower in electronic trading, despite being raised to "outperform" from "market perform" at BMO, which also raised its price target to $68 from $60. On Friday, the shares settled at the higher end of their trading range since early February of $55-$62, closing at $61.49. AbbVie Inc remains 6% below its year-to-date breakeven level, though. This could be part of the reason short-term speculators are relatively put-skewed. The stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) sits at 0.59, ranking higher than 77% of all similar readings from the past year. Said differently, put open interest outstrips call open interest by a wider margin than usual among options expiring in the next three months.


• Like Netflix, CLVS is ready to continue last week's success, after Goldman Sachs raised its outlook to "buy" from "neutral" this morning, and increased its price target to $117 from $68. In addition, the brokerage firm raised its estimate on sales of the company's experimental cancer drug rociletinib, and cited the company's potential as an M&A candidate. The shares are ready to take off, adding 8.5% ahead of the open, once again putting pressure on short sellers. Even though Clovis Oncology Inc has outperformed the S&P 500 Index (SPX) by 16 percentage points over the last three months, closing Friday at $77.40, nearly 24% of its float is sold short. What's more, it would take these bearish traders over two weeks to buy back their bets, at normal daily volumes.