Buzz Stocks: Visa Inc, Dyax Corp., and Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.

Today's stocks to watch include Visa Inc (V), Dyax Corp. (DYAX), and Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG)

Nov 2, 2015 at 10:17 AM

CMG
DYAX
V

U.S. stocks are higher on Merger Monday, as traders try to keep the October momentum rolling. Among the equities in focus are credit card concern Visa Inc (NYSE:V), biotech Dyax Corp. (NASDAQ:DYAX), and fast-casual restaurant Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG).

V is down 2.9% at $75.34, as traders digest the company's quarterly earnings report and plans to purchase Visa Europe. Still, Visa Inc shares are up more than 14.5% in 2015, and just touched a record high of $78.89 late last week. Plus, the stock could find support in the $70 region, home to its ascending 32-week moving average. While analysts are already in the bulls' corner, there are plenty of skeptics wary of V. In fact, short interest represents more than 11 sessions' worth of pent-up buying demand, at the security's average pace of trading. Should V shake off today's earnings reaction and resume its quest for record peaks, a mass exodus of shorts could fuel further upside.

DYAX is 31.7% higher at $36.26 -- and fresh off a 15-year peak of $36.68 -- after Shire PLC (ADR) (NASDAQ:SHPG) offered to buy the firm for $5.9 billion, or $37.30 per share. Even before today, Dyax Corp. shares were impressive, outperforming the broader S&P 500 Index (SPX) by nearly 28 percentage points during the past month.

CMG is down 2.9% at $621.72 -- territory not charted since July -- as the company deals with an E. coli outbreak in some of its West Coast stores. Eight people have been hospitalized thus far, and Marisa D'Angeli, a Washington State Department of Health medical epidemioligist, said, "We actually would expect there might be a jump in cases on Monday." Against this backdrop, Guggenheim lowered its price target on CMG to $712 from $725. It's been a rough few weeks for Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., which reported disappointing earnings and gapped lower on Oct. 21. Still, 15 out of 26 analysts maintain "buy" or better ratings, leaving the door wide open for more negative analyst notes.

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