Analyst Update: Tesla, Goldman Sachs, Casey's General Stores

Analysts chimed in on electric vehicle producer Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), financial company Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), and convenience store operator Casey's General Stores Inc (NASDAQ:CASY). Here's a quick roundup of today's brokerage notes on TSLA, GS, and CASY.

• A day after its CFO Deepak Ahuja joined FireEye Inc's (NASDAQ:FEYE) board, TSLA was started with an "outperform" rating and target price of $340 at Oppenheimer. The brokerage noted that it views Tesla Motors Inc as a "transformative battery-powered product company with leading expertise in cell design, packaging, associated software, human-machine and machine-machine interaction design." Despite today's 1.1% jump to $250.99, the stock continues to face overhead resistance from its 10-week moving average. In recent weeks, this trendline has capped the shares' rally attempts. In fact, after hitting an all-time peak of $286.65 in late July, the stock has shed 12.4%, thanks -- in part -- to this moving average's resistance. Amid this downtrend, option bears have been piling on, per TSLA's 10-day International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) put/call volume ratio of 1.08 -- in the 79th annual percentile.

• GS is 1.8% higher at $189.21, after receiving an upgrade from BofA-Merrill Lynch. Specifically, Goldman Sachs Group Inc's rating was elevated to "buy" from "neutral" due to its attractive valuation, following the equity's a recent pullback. Technically, however, GS is facing significant overhead resistance. At the end of June, the stock tagged a seven-year high of $218.77; however, it quickly slipped below its 20-day moving average (which has capped its gains today), and has lost 13.5% from its peak. Analysts, nonetheless, have kept the faith. Twelve of 13 brokerages see GS as worthy of a "hold" or worse.

• CASY tagged an all-time high of $114.90 this morning, after the company posted record first-quarter earnings. The results prompted a price-target hike to $111 from $109 at RBC, which also reiterated a "sector perform" rating. Casey's General Stores Inc is a solid, steady performer. The shares have continually journeyed higher atop their 10-month moving average. On the rare occasions that this trendline has faltered, the security's 20-month moving average has stepped up to provide support. Option players remain skeptical toward CASY, as the equity's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.06 is higher than 73% of the readings taken during the past 52 weeks. Should this pessimism unwind in the wake of last night's upbeat earnings and today's upgrade, the stock could continue to challenge all-time highs. At last check, CASY was up 0.6% at $109.18.