Analyst Upgrades: eBay, Lululemon Athletica, Lannett

Analysts are weighing in today on online auction house eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY), yoga apparel seller Lululemon Athletica inc. (NASDAQ:LULU), and drugmaker Lannett Company, Inc. (NYSE:LCI). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on EBAY, LULU, and LCI.

• EBAY saw its rating boosted to "neutral" from "underweight" at Piper Jaffray -- though the firm also slashed its price target to $30 from $50. The stock has shown well on the charts, adding nearly 14% in 2015 to trade at $26.87, thanks to a sharp bounce off its 140-week moving average last week. However, there are plenty of skeptics in eBay Inc's options pits. During the last 10 days at the International Securities Excahnge (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), the equity has racked up a put/call volume ratio of 0.78 -- in the 82nd annual percentile. Ahead of the bell, EBAY is pointed 1.6% higher.


• LULU is poised to pop 1.1% at the open, after being added to Wedbush's "Best Ideas" list. Today's expected gains are par for the course, considering Lululemon Athletica inc. has rallied over 17% year-to-date at $65.36 -- and was one of the few names to successfully dodge August's bearish bullet. There's plenty of cash on the sideline, too, which could help usher the shares higher. Specifically, 19% of the stock's float is sold short, representing almost 14 days' worth of pent-up buying power, at LULU's typical trading rate. What's more, over half of the analysts tracking the outperformer still consider it a "hold" or worse, potentially paving the way for future upgrades.


• LCI is on fire in electronic trading, after the company agreed to buy Kremers Urban Pharmaceuticals Inc. from Belgium-based UCB, and received a pair of bullish brokerage notes. Specifically, Craig-Hallum and Roth raised their respective price targets to $72 and $68, sending LCI shares up more than 16% pre-market. This represents a break from the equity's technical trajectory of late. Since hitting its most recent high of $62.90 in mid-July, Lannett Company, Inc. has dropped 21.3% to rest at $49.48. Meanwhile, short interest has been on the rise -- spiking nearly 40% during the two most recent reporting periods, and now representing 29% of the stock's total float. At LCI's typical volumes, it would take 11.3 days to cover these bearish bets -- which could start happening today, with the shares set to spike.

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