Analyst Upgrades: Ariad, AT&T, Potash Corp of Saskatchewan

Analysts upwardly revised their ratings and price targets on Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ARIA), AT&T Inc. (T), and Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (USA) (POT)

Sep 26, 2016 at 9:45 AM

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Analysts are weighing in on drugmaker Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARIA), telecom stock AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), and fertilizer firm Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on ARIA, T, and POT.

Leerink assumed coverage on ARIA with an "outperform" rating and a $20 price target. As a result, the stock is up 2% at $13.79 -- a chip-shot from Friday's two-year peak at $13.94. With shares of Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. blazing up the charts, traders at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) have grown increasingly bullish. ARIA's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 12.17 rests just 10 percentage points from a 52-week high.

T is down 0.3% at $41.14, even though HSBC boosted its assessment to "hold" from "reduce." Even with this dip, the stock sports a nearly 20% year-to-date advance. Yet, short-term options traders have been focused on puts over calls. AT&T Inc.'s Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.84 rests in the put-skewed 85th annual percentile -- with put open interest nearly doubling call open interest among options expiring in the next three months.

POT -- which announced plans for a major merger two weeks ago -- saw its rating boosted to "positive" from "neutral" at Susquehanna, which also lifted its price target to $21 from $16. This optimism is unusual, relative to the rest of the brokerage bunch -- with over two-thirds of analysts rating the stock a "hold" or worse. Plus, Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan's consensus 12-month price target of $16.58 represents a modest 4.2% premium to current trading levels. At last check, the shares were off 0.2% at $15.92, down 7% on a year-to-date basis.

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