Analyst Upgrades: AstraZeneca plc, Electronic Arts Inc., and Pandora Media Inc

Analysts upwardly revised their ratings and price targets on AstraZeneca plc (ADR) (AZN), Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), and Pandora Media Inc (P)

Sep 12, 2016 at 9:23 AM

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Analysts are weighing in on drugmaker AstraZeneca plc (ADR) (NYSE:AZN), video game stock Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA), and music discovery platform Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on AZN, EA, and P.

AZN saw its rating upgraded to a "buy" from a "hold" at Jefferies, while the brokerage firm raised its price target to 5,800P from 5,400P, citing high hopes for the drugmaker's lung cancer combination immunotherapy. As such, the stock is 1.3% higher in electronic trading, after settling Friday at $32.20. More broadly speaking, AstraZeneca plc shares have been a mixed bag -- rallying hard off their mid-June lows around $27, but struggling since hitting an annual high of $35.04 in early August. Meanwhile, options traders at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) have bought to open 60.50 calls for every put in the last 10 days -- a ratio that sits just 2 percentage points from an 12-month peak.

EA's price target was raised to $87 from $83 at Stifel. The stock ended last week at $79.86, taking a breather after running to a record high of $84.45 on Sept. 6. Despite outperforming over the long haul, Electronic Arts Inc. has been a target of short sellers. Despite a nearly 20% drop in short interest over the past two reporting periods, 6.4% of the stock's float is still dedicated to these bearish bets. At EA's typical daily volume, it would take one week to cover -- hinting at the potential for a short-squeeze rally.

P, which is set to join Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) in offering new music streaming services, received an upgrade to a "buy" from a "neutral at SunTrust Robinson -- which lifted its price target by $6 to $18, as well. This has given Pandora Media Inc a 4% boost in pre-market trading. Last Friday, the stock ended at $13.62, and it's been steadily rising since its April lows just above $8. Yet, P's 50-day ISE/CBOE/PHLX put/call volume ratio of 0.51 ranks in the 97th annual percentile, hinting at a stronger-than-usual bias toward long puts over calls.

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