Analyst Update: American Airlines, Yum! Brands, and Visa

Analysts revised their ratings and price targets on American Airlines Group Inc (NASDAQ:AAL), Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM), and Visa Inc (NYSE:V)

Apr 22, 2016 at 3:58 PM

Analysts are weighing in on travel stock American Airlines Group Inc (NASDAQ:AAL), restaurant operator Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM), and Dow component Visa Inc (NYSE:V). Here's a quick roundup of today's brokerage notes on AAL, YUM, and V.

AAL is 4.3% lower at $38.30, despite beating expectations for first-quarter earnings, as revenue for the period fell short. Credit Suisse, Cowen, and Deutsche Bank all lowered their price targets on the stock, with the latter setting the bar the lowest at $41. The shares have been trading in a choppy, sideways pattern since last summer, finally giving in to overheard resistance from their 200-day moving average. But analysts have remained quite optimistic, with 67% rating American Airlines Group Inc a "buy" or better, with not a "sell" on the books. And at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), the equity's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 3.65 is higher than over three-fourths of the past year's readings.

Since reporting better-than-predicted earnings on Wednesday night, YUM has received price-target hikes from no fewer than 10 brokerage firms, including UBS, which this morning set its target at a lofty $97. Nevertheless, shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. are down 0.8% at $81.03 today, testing support at their 30-day moving average. Option traders have been placing bullish bets on the stock, with long calls nearly tripling long puts over the past two weeks on the ISE, CBOE, and PHLX. But YUM could stand to benefit from more analyst upgrades, since 10 out of 17 currently give the stock a "hold" or "sell" recommendation.

V reported fiscal second-quarter earnings that topped analysts' predictions last night, but lowered its full-year guidance, expressing caution for the second half of the year. The shares are off 2.1% to $79.11, even as Cowen and Company, Goldman Sachs, Bernstein, and Sandler O'Neill all increased their price-targets on Visa Inc, spanning a range of $87 to $97. V had been on a strong uptrend since early February, and hit a year-to-date high of $81.73 on Monday. As such, calls have been popular. For instance, V sports a Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.57 -- lower than 95% of all reading in the last year.

For other stocks in analysts' crosshairs, read Analyst Upgrades: Norfolk Southern Corp., Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., and Michael Kors Holdings Ltd and Analyst Downgrades: Alphabet Inc, Nordstrom, Inc., and Microsoft Corporation.

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