Analyst Update: Ambarella Inc, BlackBerry Ltd, and Allegheny Technologies Incorporated

Analysts are weighing in on tech stock Ambarella Inc (NASDAQ:AMBA), smartphone maker BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY), and metal producer Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (NYSE:ATI). Here's a quick roundup of today's brokerage notes on AMBA, BBRY, and ATI.

• Ahead of AMBA's turn in the earnings confessional Thursday night, the stock saw its price target boosted to $85 at Craig-Hallum. This upbeat outlook -- as well as an analyst-induced pop for AMBA customer GoPro Inc (NASDAQ:GPRO) -- has the stock up 2.7% at $70.82. This positive price action is just more of the same for the shares of Ambarella Inc, which have doubled since their mid-May lows near $35.30. Should the security extend this momentum -- possibly in the wake of another strong earnings reaction -- short sellers could be encouraged to cover their bearish bets. Currently 22% of AMBA's float is sold short, representing nearly nine sessions' worth of pent-up buying demand, at the stock's average pace of trading.

• J.P. Morgan Securities boosted its price target on BBRY to $8 from $7, roughly in line with the equity's current price of $7.94. Technically, the shares are up 27.4% from their year-to-date low at $6.23 -- hit during the late-June broad-market sell-off. More recently, BBRY seems to have found a foothold in the $7.85-$7.90 region, which served as resistance in the first half of this month. While analysts been growing increasingly optimistic toward BBRY of late, options traders have shown a preference for long calls over puts in recent months. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), BlackBerry Ltd's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 6.24 ranks in the 80th annual percentile.

• Deutsche Bank raised its rating on ATI to "buy" from "hold" and its price target to $20 from $15, with the brokerage firm waxing optimistic over the company's cost-cutting measures. At last check, the stock was up 10.1% at $18.33. However, while the equity is within a chip-shot of taking out its annual high of $19.49 from last August, it is running into familiar resistance in the $18.40-$18.50 neighborhood, which has resisted Allegheny Technologies Incorporated's advances for most of the past 12 months. Today's bull gap is likely catching skeptics off guard, too. Not only is 19.1% of the stock's float sold short, but its 10-day put/call volume ratio of 3.96 at the ISE, CBOE, and PHLX ranks just 8 percentage points from a 52-week peak.