Analyst Upgrades: Amazon, Facebook, and Paypal

Analysts are weighing in on e-commerce concern Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), social network giant Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), and payment processor Paypal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on AMZN, FB, and PYPL.

• AMZN received a bevy of upbeat analyst attention ahead of its upcoming earnings report. Cowen and Company raised its outlook to "outperform" from "market perform" and boosted its price target to $565 from $435 -- in never-before-seen territory. Specifically -- and despite confusion surrounding last week's Prime Day -- the brokerage firm said it sees strong growth in Amazon.com, Inc.'s retail and cloud divisions, with the former expected to lead the market. Likewise, Wedbush upgraded AMZN to "outperform" from "neutral" and lifted its price target to $575. On the charts, the equity has been a standout, up almost 56% year-to-date to trade at $483.01. In fact, AMZN -- along with the broader Nasdaq Composite (COMP) -- hit a record high of $485.42 on Friday, and looks poised to take out this notable milestone today. Short-term speculators are more put-skewed than usual, though, per the equity's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.31, which ranks in the 82nd annual percentile. Separately, the company said it plans to invest $5 billion in India to make the nation its biggest market outside of the U.S.


• FB also had a record-setting day on Friday -- topping out at an all-time peak of $95.39, before settling the session at $94.97. BTIG thinks there's more upside to come, and boosted its price target for the stock to $117. As such, the shares are pointed modestly higher ahead of the bell, and seemingly on track to notch a new record high. Longer term, FB has added an impressive 21.7% in 2015, catching the eye of call buyers. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), Facebook Inc's 10-day call/put volume ratio of 2.84 ranks higher than 83% of all comparable readings taken in the past year. Simply stated, calls have been bought to open over puts at a faster-than-usual clip.


• PYPL -- an eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) spinoff -- will begin publicly trading its shares today. Ahead of this morning's opening bell, J.P. Morgan Securities initiated coverage with an "overweight" rating and a $48 price target, saying it's "bullish on PayPal in the short term, recognizing many long-term secular threats to monitor." The stock also received "outperform" and "buy" ratings from BMO, Baird, and SunTrust Robinson, with the brokerage firms setting their price targets in the $45-to-$46 range. Evercore, meanwhile, bucked the bullish trend, rating Paypal Holdings Inc a "sell." The stock is up 4.5% in pre-market action, after closing Friday at $38.39 (the stock traded last week under a "when-issued" status).