Analyst Upgrades: American Express, Yum! Brands, Fitbit

Analysts upwardly revised their ratings and price targets on American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM), and Fitbit Inc (NYSE:FIT)

Josh Selway

Apr 21, 2016 at 9:27 AM

Analysts are weighing in on blue chip American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), fast food stock Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM), and tech stock Fitbit Inc (NYSE:FIT). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on AXP, YUM, and FIT.

AXP is up 2.5% ahead of the opening bell, as Wall Street weighs in after the company's better-than-expected first-quarter earnings and its first increase in revenue in five quarters. No fewer than seven brokerage firms raised their price targets on American Express Company, though three others lowered their targets. BMO was on the bullish side of things, raising its price target to $76 from $71. AXP closed Wednesday at $65.02, leaving it 6.5% below breakeven year-to-date -- though the shares yesterday topped their 120-day moving average for the first time since since August. If the blue chip extends this rally, it could benefit from additional bullish notes, considering 86% of analysts still deem it a "hold" or worse.
YUM is also ready to take advantage of a first-quarter earnings beat, adding 3.5% in electronic trading. The company's China division -- which it's trying to offload -- performed particularly well, with same-store sales increasing 6% on Chinese New Year chicken bucket promotions at KFC. As a result, Nomura jumped in and boosted its price target to $92 from $82. Yum! Brands, Inc. has added almost 14% since the end of March to trade at $82.53, and options traders are likely pleased. Specifically, YUM's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) stands at an annual low of 0.32, meaning short-term speculators are the most call-skewed they've been in at least 12 months.
FIT closed Wednesday at $17.69, bringing its month-to-date gain to 16.8%. The shares have shown signs of life since dipping below $12 in late February, adding 48.5%. Now, analysts are getting behind the stock. Cowen and Company this morning bumped its price target to $20 from $19 -- the latest in a long line of bullish notes for FIT this month. Options traders are turning bullish on Fitbit Inc, too. In fact, almost eight calls have been bought to open for every put during the past two weeks at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX).

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