Analyst Upgrades: BlackBerry, Paypal, Teva Pharma

Analysts are weighing in today on mobile phone brand BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY), Wall Street rookie Paypal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL), and drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:TEVA). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on BBRY, PYPL, and TEVA.

• BBRY is poised to pop nearly 3% at the open, following a bullish note from Morgan Stanley. Specifically, the brokerage upped its rating on the stock to "equal weight" from "underweight," citing the company's "flexibility with cash and opportunity for opex cuts." Last night, BlackBerry Ltd settled at $7.28, and if it can make a decisive move north, there's plenty of room to run. Over 21% of the equity's float is sold short, representing more than two weeks' worth of pent-up buying power, at typical daily volumes. Also, additional upgrades could come down the pike, considering 18 of 22 analysts rate BBRY a "hold" or worse.


• Jefferies initiated coverage on PYPL with a "buy" rating and $44 price target. The stock has received a lot of upbeat attention since going public earlier this month, but on the charts, has been pulling back since topping out at a record $42.55 on July 20. Specifically, Paypal Holdings Inc has surrendered 14.5% since then, settling Monday at $36.39. Meanwhile, options traders have been buying to open calls over puts at a rapid-fire rate. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), PYPL's 10-day call/put volume ratio is 6.52. These bulls may be rewarded this morning, with the stock pointed 1.4% higher in electronic trading.


• TEVA, which will hit the earnings stage Thursday morning, made headlines yesterday with a pair of M&A updates. It's more of the same today, with the company reporting the European Medicines Agency has confirmed a successful validation of its reslizumab marketing authorization application. In addition, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd has received a number of positive notes. For example, BMO upgraded the stock's rating to "outperform" from "market perform," and boosted its price target to $80 from $75, while Leerink bumped its price target by $10 to $84. Options traders still aren't sold, however -- the equity's 50-day ISE/CBOE/PHLX put/call volume ratio of 1.19 sits only 4 percentage points from an annual peak. On the charts, it's been a good year for TEVA, especially after the security jumped over 16% yesterday -- and notched a record high of $72.15. Specifically, the shares have advanced 25.2% in 2015.

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