Analyst Update: Expedia, Boulder Brands, Yahoo!

Analysts are weighing in today on travel website Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE), food packager Boulder Brands Inc (NASDAQ:BDBD), and Internet giant Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO). Here's a quick look at today's brokerage notes on EXPE, BDBD, and YHOO.

• A $12 price-target hike at Cowen and Company has EXPE 2.3% higher this afternoon at $107.46. With today's rise, the shares are up almost 41% since their 2015 low of $76.34 on Feb. 9. However, option traders have remained stubbornly bearish. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), Expedia Inc's 10-day put/call volume ratio stands at 3.31, putting it only 2 percentage points away from an annual high. If the equity continues moving higher on the charts, a reversal of option trader sentiment could provide an additional lift. Looking ahead, EXPE will hold its annual shareholder meeting next Tuesday, June 16.


• It's been a dreadful day for BDBD. Not only did the company's CEO Steve Hughes resign, but it also dramatically reduced its current-quarter outlook, a move that Canaccord Genuity says is "calling into question the longer term growth profile of BDBD's portfolio." As a result, the brokerage firm lowered its price target on the stock to $8.50 from $12. After touching a three-year low of $6.82 earlier, the stock was last seen at $7 -- a 21.2% drop on the day. Short sellers have to be cheering the news. Over one-fifth of Boulder Brands Inc's float is sold short, and would take a whopping 21 sessions to buy back, at its normal trading pace.


• YHOO has added 1.3% today to trade at $42.15, even though UBS lowered its price target by $1 to $58 (but kept its "buy" outlook). The shares have been struggling lately, trailing the S&P 500 Index (SPX) by almost 8 percentage points in the last two months, and the options arena has grown extremely bearish. Yahoo! Inc.'s 10-day ISE/CBOE/PHLX put/call volume ratio of 0.43 ranks in the 83rd annual percentile, meaning there's been a much greater-than-usual appetite for long puts over calls lately.