Analyst Upgrades: Expedia, Facebook, and FireEye

Analysts are weighing in today on online travel portal Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE), social network Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), and cybersecurity issue FireEye Inc (NASDAQ:FEYE). Here's a quick roundup of today's brokerage notes on EXPE, FB, and FEYE.

• EXPE saw its rating raised to "buy" from "hold" -- and its price target upped to $130 from $95 (in uncharted territory) -- at Deutsche Bank. The brokerage firm said the shares could reach $200 over the next five years, as long as the company continues to "execute on its core, extracts revenue and cost synergies from its acquisitions and rolls up the tier-2 OTA space with limited competition." The bullish note has Expedia Inc pointed 1.6% higher ahead of the bell. Longer term, the stock has surged 27.3% year-to-date to trade at $108.68, ushered higher by its 10-week moving average. Nevertheless, speculators at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) have been buying to open puts over calls at a breakneck pace in recent months. EXPE's 50-day put/call volume ratio across those exchanges is 1.19, which ranks in the 99th annual percentile. A mass exodus of option bears could add fuel to the equity's fire.


• Piper Jaffray boosted its price target on FB to $120 from $92, as the company prepares to unveil a new mobile ad format tomorrow at France's Cannes Lions advertising festival. Ahead of the bell, the stock is sitting 1.5% higher, ready to add to its year-over-year advance of nearly 28%. Today's bullish note is business as usual for Facebook Inc. Twenty-five of 27 analysts consider the shares a "buy" or better, compared to two "holds" and not a single "sell" recommendation. What's more, FB's consensus 12-month price target of $96.41 stands at a 12% premium to its all-time high of $86.07 from late March. On Friday, the security closed at $82.51.


• FEYE saw its price target lifted by $5 to $55 at UBS, even as the brokerage firm downgraded the stock to "neutral." Technically speaking, the shares have been on a tear, rallying 70% in 2015 to rest at $53.65, and touching an annual high of $55.33 last week. Nevertheless, nearly half of the 23 analysts tracking FireEye Inc have doled out "hold" or worse ratings, and its average 12-month price target of $50.33 stands at a discount to current levels. All things considered, FEYE could be on the verge of future upgrades and/or price-target hikes, which could result in tailwinds.

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