Analyst Upgrades: Square Inc, Five Below Inc, and Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc.

Analysts upwardly revised their ratings and price targets on Square Inc (SQ), Five Below Inc (FIVE), and Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc. (ULTA)

Dec 2, 2016 at 9:51 AM

Analysts are weighing in on payment processor Square Inc (NYSE:SQ), as well as retail stocks Five Below Inc (NASDAQ:FIVE) and Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on SQ, FIVE, and ULTA.

SQ is up 2.2% at $12.99 this morning, after Deutsche Bank gave the stock an upgrade to "buy" from "hold" and raised its price target to $17 from $13 -- representing never-before-seen territory for the shares. Square Inc is seated right at its year-to-date breakeven mark, but options traders have been betting on upside. Specifically, nearly 10 of the stock's calls were bought to open for each put over the last 10 weeks across the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). Moreover, the resulting call/put volume ratio of 9.94 ranks 2 percentage points from an annual bullish high.
FIVE received a price-target hike to $41 from $39 at Deutsche Bank after reporting quarterly earnings above expectations. As a result, the shares are booming 10.3% higher to $44.00, on pace for their highest close in nearly three months. Earlier this week the stock bounced off familiar support at its 50-day moving average -- a trendline that ushered the shares higher through the early part of this year -- and now FIVE is sitting on an impressive 57.7% year-over-year gain. Today's price action may not be what everyone was hoping for, though. More than 20% of Five Below Inc's total float is currently sold short, representing almost two weeks' worth of buying power, at the stock's typical pace of trading.
ULTA has added 2.9% to $264.85, widening its 2016 lead to 43%, after the company reported third-quarter earnings that topped predictions, and raised its full-year outlook. So far at least five brokerages have increased their price targets on the stock, including Deutsche Bank, which set the highest target, at $295 -- well into record-high territory. In fact, if Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc. can keep gaining on the charts, the security could see fresh highs in the near future. That may be just what options traders have been hoping for, too. At the ISE, CBOE, and PHLX, the stock's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 1.41 sits in the bullishly skewed 93rd percentile of its annual range.

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