Buzz Stocks: Teva, Brainstorm Cell, Harley-Davidson

U.S. stocks are extending yesterday's gains, as traders react to earnings from several big-name companies. In other company news, today's stocks to watch include biotech firms Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (NYSE:TEVA) and Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:BCLI), as well as motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson Inc (NYSE:HOG).

• News that TEVA has offered to purchase Mylan NV (NASDAQ:MYL) for $82 a share in cash and stock ($40.1 billion total) has TEVA 2% higher at $64.53. Technically speaking, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd has been a long-term outperformer, and notched an all-time high of $68.75 on April 9. Accordingly, options traders have favored calls over puts lately, as TEVA's 10-day International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) call/put volume ratio of 5.56 stands higher than 84% of all similar readings from the past year. 



• The shares of BCLI are 4.9% higher at $4.69, after the firm announced that its ALS drug NurOwn showed statistically significant effects in a mid-stage study. Meanwhile, the brokerage bunch is universally optimistic on the security, as all covering analysts rate it a "strong buy." Plus, BCLI's average 12-month price target of $14 is nearly three times current trading levels. 

• On the other hand, the shares of HOG are down 7.8% at $56.96 -- the worst percentage drop among S&P 500 Index (SPX) components thus far -- after the company posted first-quarter earnings and said that it is cutting its shipment outlook for the rest of 2015 (subscription required). On the charts, Harley-Davidson Inc has been sliding, with the shares down 14.4% year-to-date. Looking to the options pits, traders are more put-skewed than normal. HOG's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.45 reads in the 90th percentile of its annual range, showing that short-term speculators are more put-heavy than usual.