Analyst Upgrades: FireEye, Dick's Sporting Good, Paypal

Analysts upwardly revised their ratings and price targets on FireEye Inc (FEYE), Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. (DKS), and Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL)

Mar 9, 2016 at 9:31 AM

Analysts are weighing in on cybersecurity stock FireEye Inc (NASDAQ:FEYE), retailer Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. (NYSE:DKS), and online payment processor Paypal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on FEYE, DKS, and PYPL.

FEYE is set to pop 5% at the bell, after Piper Jaffray upgraded the stock to "overweight" from "neutral" and boosted its price target to $24 from $15, citing a strong product outlook. The brokerage firm joined at least five other analysts in waxing optimistic on FEYE after the firm upwardly revised its yearly outlook on Tuesday. Technically, FireEye Inc has been on the mend after hitting a record low of $11.35 in mid-February -- settling last night at $17.84 -- and could stand to benefit from more bullish analyst attention, as only 13 of the 22 brokerages rate the stock a lukewarm "hold." Meanwhile, option traders have been optimistic of late. Specifically, FEYE has a Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.25 -- an annual low -- indicating near-term traders are at a call-skewed extreme.

No fewer than seven analysts increased their price targets on DKS, even after the company reported disappointing fourth-quarter earnings Tuesday morning. Monness Crespi Hardt offered the highest target, at $54 -- a healthy 21% premium over Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc.'s Tuesday close of $44.56. DKS hit a nearly four-year low of $33.42 in November, but has been on the rebound in 2016, adding 26% -- and recently breaking above its 160-day moving average for the first time since last June. Still, option traders have shown a bias toward long puts -- at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), the stock's 50-day put/call volume ratio of 1.37 stands higher than 98% of all readings in the past year.

PYPL is higher in pre-market trading after Evercore ISI raised its price target on the stock to $34 -- still a discount to Paypal Holdings Inc's Tuesday close of $38.16. The stock has been up and down on the charts several times since it began trading publicly last July, but is ahead 5.4% year-to-date. Analysts remain upbeat on the equity, with 19 "buy" or better ratings, compared to six "holds" and three "sell" or worse designations. Option traders have been backing off of their bearish positions lately, however, buying to open more than 4.57 PYPL calls for each put during the last 10 sessions on the ISE, CBOE, and PHLX.

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