Analyst Upgrades: Bojangles, Zions, and Vical

Analysts are weighing in on restaurant chain Bojangles Inc (NASDAQ:BOJA), financial firm Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ:ZION), and drugmaker Vical Incorporated (NASDAQ:VICL). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on BOJA, ZION, and VICL.

• BOJA -- which began trading publicly in early May -- received a bevy of brokerage notes today. Included in the bunch was a "buy" initiation and $32 price target at Jefferies, as well as an "outperform" suggestion at William Blair, which cited the company's "cult-like following" and early morning sales as its catalyst. However, not all of the notes were optimistic, with Barclays and Piper Jaffray starting coverage with the equivalent of a "neutral" rating and a $27 price target -- a discount to last night's close at $28.01. Since its May 8 open at $26.55, shares of BOJA have added 5.5%. In the short time the stock has been trading options, speculators have shown a distinct preference for long calls over puts, per Bojangles Inc's 10-day International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) call/put volume ratio of 13.67. Ahead of the bell, BOJA is nearly 4% lower.


• ZION, meanwhile, is up 4.7% in electronic trading, after reports the company is undergoing corporate restructuring -- including consolidating into one charter -- was met with a round of upbeat analyst attention. CLSA and Guggenheim, for example, raised their ratings to "buy," while Raymond James and SunTrust Robinson -- among others -- boosted their price targets to $34, territory not charted since November 2008. On the charts, the stock has been gaining ground since hitting an annual low of $23.72 in late January, up 20.6% to trade at $28.60. In the options pits, meanwhile, short-term speculators are more put-skewed than usual. In fact, Zions Bancorporation's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.45 ranks in the 89th percentile of its annual range.


• Roth Capital started VICL with a "buy" rating and $4.65 price target, representing expected upside of 428% to Monday's close at $0.88, and an area not seen by the stock since September 2012. Specifically, the brokerage firm waxed optimistic over Vical Incorporated's pipeline, saying it could present the potential for rapid growth, if successful. The positive outlook has sent shares of VICL up 12% ahead of the bell. Longer term, the security remains a laggard, down nearly 25% year-over-year.