Analyst Upgrades: Monster Beverage Corporation, Childrens Place Inc, and Oracle Corporation

Analysts upwardly revised their ratings and price targets on Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST), Childrens Place Inc (NASDAQ:PLCE), and Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL)

Josh Selway

Mar 16, 2016 at 9:45 AM

Analysts are weighing in on beverage stock Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST), specialty retailer Childrens Place Inc (NASDAQ:PLCE), and software producer Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on MNST, PLCE, and ORCL.

MNST is up 1.4% this morning at $133.88, thanks to a price-target hike at Goldman Sachs to $160 from $157. The brokerage firm also added the stock to its "Americas Conviction" list -- though bullish attention is nothing new from the analyst community. Nine of 12 brokerages say Monster Beverage Corporation's a "buy" or better, and none call it a "sell." Short-term option traders, though, are more put-skewed now than at nearly any other point in the past year, according to MNST's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.83 -- just 2 percentage points from an annual high. That may be because the shares are down almost 17% from their all-time high of $160.50 in early December.
PLCE is up 1% this morning at $77.23, after yesterday morning's fourth-quarter earnings report and current-quarter guidance topped expectations. Longer term, the shares have beat out the S&P 500 Index (SPX) by nearly 44 percentage points during the past three months, and analysts are upping their expectations. Specifically, Wolfe Research and BMO increased their price targets on the stock to $82 and $75, respectively. We'll see if this technical success drives away any short sellers. Over 14% of Childrens Place Inc's float is sold short, and it'd take these bears almost six sessions to cover, at average daily volumes.

ORCL posted impressive fiscal third-quarter earnings last night, and announced it's raising its stock buyback program by $10 billion. The shares are now up 4.3% at $40.42, bringing their year-to-date lead to nearly 11%. No fewer than four brokerage firms upped their price targets, with Goldman Sachs setting the highest target at $48, representing territory never before explored. More bullish attention could be forthcoming, since 10 of 23 brokerage firms rate Oracle Corporation a "hold" or worse.

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