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Analyst Upgrades: Amazon, Nokia Corporation, Amgen

Analysts upwardly revised their ratings on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK), and Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Apr 22, 2015 at 9:27 AM
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Analysts are weighing in today on e-commerce giant Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), telecom concern Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK), and biotechnology firm Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on AMZN, NOK, and AMGN.

  • For the second time this week, AMZN received upbeat analyst attention, this time from Monness Crespi Hardt, which raised its outlook to "buy" from "neutral" and its price target to $450 from $350 -- in territory yet to be charted. Technically speaking, Amazon.com, Inc.  has rallied 26% in 2015 to trade at $391.18, with a hefty portion of this advance a result of the equity's 13.7% single-session post-earnings pop on Jan. 30. It appears option traders are rolling the dice on another well-received earnings report when the company steps into the limelight tomorrow evening. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), Amazon.com, Inc.'s 10-day call/put volume ratio of 1.56 ranks in the 90th annual percentile.
  • NOK received an upgrade to "outperform" from "market perform" and a price-target hike to $10.35 from $9.20 at Bernstein, amid reports its map business is attracting the attention of a number of high-profile bidders -- including Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB). This isn't the first M&A headline Nokia Corporation has made this week, and as a result, NOK is up 2.9% since last Friday's close to linger at $7.84. Longer term, the equity has been churning between $7.50 and $8.50 since mid-October. Option traders are optimistic, though, as evidenced by the security's 50-day ISE/CBOE/PHLX call/put volume ratio of 16.14, which rests higher than 92% of all similar readings taken during the past 12 months.
  • A handful of brokerage firms weighed in on AMGN, after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings and raised its full-year profit forecast. Included in the bunch was Leerink Swann, which upped its price target by $10 to $187, explaining "Management's 'transformation' plan appears to be reducing operating expenses." Deutsche Bank, meanwhile, offered up the most optimistic outlook, boosting its price target by $5 to $200, which represents expected upside of 18.7% to last night's close at $168.46, as well as a move into record-high waters. On the charts, AMGN has tacked on an impressive year-over-year gain of 41.2%, and options traders have responded in kind. Specifically, the security's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.61 ranks in the 3rd percentile of its annual range, meaning short-term speculators are more call-heavy than usual.
 
 

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