Analyst Upgrades: LinkedIn Corp, SolarCity Corp, and Pandora Media Inc

Analysts are weighing in on social media stock LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD), renewable energy company SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY), and music streaming stock Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on LNKD, SCTY, and P.

• LNKD is up 2.8% at $137.64, after RBC Capital upgraded the stock to "outperform" from "perform," and said it's well-positioned against its rivals, just before LinkedIn Corp's shareholder meeting later today. According to an RBC Capital survey of recruiting professionals, LNKD beats out its competition in terms of customer satisfaction, and a significant portion of current customers plan to up their spending within the next year. Although the social media stock is down nearly 40% year-to-date -- due to a steep post-earnings sell-off in February -- the stock has gained roughly 20% in the past three months. Plus, option players expect that momentum to continue, with LNKD's 10-day call/put volume ratio at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) of 1.9 sitting in the 96th percentile of annual readings, suggesting a stronger-than-usual bullish sentiment towards the stock.
 

• SCTY is up 3.4% at $23.85, after Baird upgraded the renewable energy stock to "outperform," and following the appointment of Toby Corey to president of global sales and customer experience. SCTY has been struggling beneath its 10-week and 20-week moving averages, and bearish sentiment has been on the rise as of late, with the stock's 50-day ISE/CBOE/PHLX put/call volume ratio of 1.19 sitting in the 76th percentile of its annual range. Short sellers have been hot on the stock, too, with short interest up 29% over the last reporting period, and shorted shares now account for over 40% of SolarCity Corp's float.


• P is trading at $12.28, up 4%, following an upgrade to "buy" from "hold" at Axiom. The brokerage firm also set a target of $16, representing a premium of 30.3% to P's current price. Since hitting an all-time low in February, the shares have surged 73% -- and managed to overcome resistance at the $11 level -- and are now facing off against their 200-day moving average. In fact, even before today's lift, P had outperformed the greater S&P 500 Index (SPX) by 30 percentage points over the last 40 sessions. A short squeeze could fuel further gains, with 27.2% of P's float currently sold short -- representing a week's worth of trading, at the equity's average daily volume.