Analyst Upgrades: Apple, Fitbit, Edwards Lifesciences

Analysts are weighing in today on iPad parent Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), fitness products maker Fitbit Inc (NYSE:FIT), and healthcare firm Edwards Lifesciences Corp (NYSE:EW). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on AAPL, FIT, and EW.

• SocGen upgraded AAPL to "buy" from "hold," saying it expects the company to successfully launch its iPhone 6s smartphone in September. Separately, Canaccord Genuity published a report revealing that, among the top eight smartphone manufacturers, Apple Inc. earned 92% of the total profits. On the charts, however, the stock has struggled since hitting a record high of $134.54 in late April, retreating 8.4% to trade at $123.28. Understandably, traders have been piling on the bearish bandwagon at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). Over the last two weeks, AAPL's put/call volume ratio across those exchanges has edged up to 0.64, an annual peak. Ahead of the bell, the shares are up 1.3%.
  


• No fewer than four brokerage firms started coverage on FIT with the equivalent of a "buy" rating -- echoing the prevailing trend. However, BofA-Merrill Lynch, Raymond James, William Blair, and Barclays each initiated coverage with the equivalent of a "hold" assessment. All things considered, the stock is pointed 1.3% higher ahead of the bell. The Wall Street rookie has had quite the run since publicly debuting in mid-June, rallying more than 38% to trade at $42.10. Amid this uptrend, options traders have been buying to open calls over puts by a more than 5-to-1 margin, per Fitbit Inc's 10-day ISE/CBOE/PHLX call/put volume ratio of 5.16.


• EW has tacked on 3.3% ahead of the bell, after receiving a round of bullish analyst attention. Specifically, RBC and and Northland Capital upgraded their opinions to "outperform" from "sector perform," and boosted their respective price targets to $185 and $170. Also upping their price targets were BMO (to $167) and Sterne Agee CRT (to $170). This positive attention follows Edwards Lifesciences Corp's $400 million purchase of CardiAQ Valve Technologies Inc. Longer term, the security has muscled 20% higher since touching its most recent low of $122.75 in early May to rest at $147.16. In the options pits, EW has racked up a 10-day ISE/CBOE/PHLX call/put volume ratio of 7.20 -- in the bullishly skewed 83rd percentile of its annual range.

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