Analyst Update: SUPERVALU, Freeport-McMoRan, AeroVironment

Analysts chimed in on wholesale distributor SUPERVALU INC. (NYSE:SVU), commodity company Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE:FCX), and aeronautics contractor AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV). Here's a quick roundup of today's brokerage notes on SVU, FCX, and AVAV.

• SVU is 2.7% higher at $8.06, after receiving some positive coverage in Barron's. The magazine noted that SUPERVALU INC. has "cut costs, reduced its debt, shaken up management, and sold all of the Albertsons stores it acquired in 2006." In fact, Barron's believes that SVU shares -- like Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) -- can jump 50% if the company decides to spin off its Save-A-Lot grocery chain. Option players are also seemingly optimistic on SVU, as its 50-day call/put volume ratio of 11.88 on the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) is higher than 78% of the readings taken during the past 52 weeks. In other words, buyers have picked up SVU calls over puts at a faster-than-usual clip during the past 10 weeks.

• Jefferies issued a number of price-target cuts this morning, and FCX couldn't dodge the bullet, with the brokerage firm slicing its target to $17. Freeport-McMoRan Inc has traded on both sides of breakeven today, but was last seen 1% lower at $11.29. What's more, FCX has seen copper prices slide recently thanks to economic news from China. There is still some room for more analysts to turn bearish, as eight of the 12 brokerages tracking FCX rate it a "buy" or better, despite the stock's year-to-date loss of more than 50%. 

• AVAV is 1.8% higher at $20.81, after Piper Jaffray raised stock to "overweight" from "neutral," and implemented a price target of $28. The analyst added that AeroVironment, Inc."looks cheap," and said he expects the drone market to hit an "inflection." Technically, the stock has shed 50% from its April 2014 peak of $41.67, and just hit a two-year low of $20.13 last week. As such, it's not surprising to find short interest represents nearly eight sessions' worth of pent-up buying demand, at AVAV's average pace of trading.