Analyst Upgrades: Apple Inc., Edwards Lifesciences Corp, and Facebook Inc

Analysts upwardly revised their ratings and price targets on Apple Inc. (AAPL), Edwards Lifesciences Corp (EW), and Facebook Inc (FB)

Apr 4, 2016 at 9:30 AM

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AAPL

Analysts are weighing in on tech giant Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), healthcare stock Edwards Lifesciences Corp (NYSE:EW), and social media concern Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on AAPL, EW, and FB.

AAPL is 0.6% higher ahead of the bell, after receiving a price-target hike to $150 from $140 at Credit Suisse, which also added the stock to its "U.S. Focus List," calling AAPL one of its "top investment ideas." Brean Capital, meanwhile, lowered its price target on Apple Inc. to $155 from $170 -- still a 41% premium to the stock's Friday closing price of $109.99, and well into record-high territory. The shares have been tracking steadily higher since hitting a year-to-date low of $93.04 in early February, and last week retook their 160-day moving average -- a level the stock hadn't topped since early November. And near-term option traders have been more call-heavy on the equity than usual, as seen in AAPL's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.68 -- higher than 87% of the past year's readings.

EW is set to pop 12.5% at the open after announcing positive results for its SAPIEN 3 heart valves over the weekend, and earning an upgrade to "buy" at BTIG. Plus, no fewer than 10 brokerage firms raised their price targets on the stock, to a range between $98 and $117 -- all above Edwards Lifesciences Corp's Friday close of $89.92. In fact, EW hit an all-time high of $90.06 on Friday, and looks poised to overtake that record today. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), traders have bought to open more than two EW calls for each put over the last 10 sessions -- but this ratio sits in just the 43rd annual percentile.

FB is 1.5% lower in electronic trading despite a $5 price-target hike to $150 at Axiom, as the company reported that shipping of some of its Oculus Rift virtual reality headsets will be delayed due to a parts shortage. And while Facebook Inc has been heading higher since an early February bounce off its 120-day moving average, closing Friday at $116.06, option traders still appear to be targeting a pullback. At the ISE, CBOE, and PHLX, the stock's 50-day put/call volume ratio of 0.65 is higher than 97% of all readings in the last 12 months.

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