Analyst Upgrades: Viacom, Inc., Finisar Corporation, and Oracle Corporation

Analysts are weighing in on entertainment stock Viacom, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAB), data communications firm Finisar Corporation (NASDAQ:FNSR), and software producer Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on VIAB, FNSR, and ORCL.

• VIAB is up 1.8% at $45.87, despite a lackluster earnings forecast, and just one day after CEO Sumner Redstone ousted five board members in the latest move in the company's battle for control. Following the management shake-up, VIAB received an upgrade to "sector perform" from "underperform" at RBC, which also raised VIAB's price target to $45 from $34. Viacom, Inc. last month topped its 10-month trendline for the first time in nearly two years, and has rallied roughly 50% since hitting a six-year low of $30.11 in February, though the stock remains down  31.3% over the last 12 months.  VIAB calls were busy yesterday, trading at two times the norm. The July 50 call saw the biggest overnight increase in open interest, with more than 1,200 contracts added.
 

• FNSR is up 7.5% at $18.90 -- and fresh off a year-to-date high of $19.10 -- after reporting earnings that trumped analysts' expectations. No fewer than nine brokerage firms have hiked Finisar Corporation's price target, including hikes to $24 from Craig-Hallum, Needham, and Piper Jaffray. FNSR is up nearly 30% since the beginning of the year, and saw similar analyst attention after its last earnings report, although only four of 11 brokerage firms covering FNSR rate the stock a "buy" or better. Option players were increasingly optimistic ahead of earnings, and VIAB's 50-day call/put volume ratio at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) stands at 4.96, higher than 81% of all other readings from the past year.


• ORCL is also trading higher after earnings, currently sitting at $39.40, up 2%. ORCL's earnings beat expectations, and Chairman Larry Ellison said he expects the cloud business's "hyper-growth" to continue over the next several years. In fact, Oracle has been putting its eggs in the cloud basket for some time, including snapping up Opower Inc (NYSE:OPWR). Citigroup, Wedbush, and Raymond James all issued price-target hikes for ORCL, with the latter raising to $45 from $43. ORCL is off its March highs, but is up 8.2% for the year, and currently sits just above its 200-day moving average. In the options pits, sentiment has dramatically shifted over the past few weeks, with Oracle Corporation's 50-day ISE/CBOE/PHLX call/put volume ratio of 2.20 sitting in the 97th percentile of its annual range.