Analyst Upgrades: ConAgra Foods, KB Home, Adobe Systems

Analysts are weighing in on food producer ConAgra Foods Inc (NYSE:CAG), homebuilder KB Home (NYSE:KBH), and software stock Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on CAG, KBH, and ADBE.

• CAG is off 0.1% at $47.41, even after Morgan Stanley raised its price target to $52. The move also follows reports that ConAgra Foods Inc's frozen potato business has had merger discussions with Post Holdings Inc (NYSE:POST). CAG has had a fantastic year, gaining over 12%, with the shares hitting a record peak of $47.85 earlier this morning. This price action is great for options traders, as the stock's 10-day call/put volume ratio at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) stands at a mind-numbing 20.96 -- higher than 88% of the past year's readings. 
 

• Bullish brokerage notes are pouring in for KBH, after the company's fiscal second-quarter earnings beat analysts' expectations. Citigroup, RBC, and FBR all raised their price targets to $16, while UBS revised its mark up to $12. The shares were last seen 2.7% higher at $14.93, though they could be struggling to top the $15 level yet again. Short sellers would like to see this resistance hold, as a whopping 28% of KB Home's float is sold short, or 7.4 times the stock's average daily trading volume.


• Despite posting better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter earnings and receiving a round of price-target hikes, ADBE is down 5.3% at $94.45 due to a poor current-quarter forecast. Bernstein, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup all upped their price targets, with the latter setting the bar at $117 -- all-time-high territory. Despite this morning's price action, Adobe Systems Incorporated has been on fire since bottoming at $71.27 in early February, and even now appears to have found a foothold at its 80-day moving average. The gains have helped the stock earn the respect of analysts (not to mention options traders). Specifically, nine out of 11 brokerage firms recommend buying ADBE, while none call it a "sell."