Barclays is impressed with Blue Apron's new CEO
Blue Apron Holdings Inc (NYSE:APRN) has struggled mightily since it first began trading in late June amid a suddenly crowded meal delivery industry that now includes Amazon (AMZN) and Weight Watchers (WTW). Nevertheless, the stock is soaring for a third straight day following last week's news of the company's CEO shift -- and upbeat analysts are chiming in.
Earlier today, APRN received an upgrade to "equal weight" from"underweight" at Barclays, as well as a price-target hike to $4 from $3. The brokerage firm is encouraged by the promotion of CEO Brad Dickerson, and said the "risk/reward appears more favorable."
APRN shares are up 8.4% to trade at $3.49, shooting past their 20-day moving average for the first time since mid-October. Longer term, APRN has shed 65% since its initial public offering (IPO) price of $10, and fell to a record low of $2.94 on Nov. 22.
And while a whopping 48% of APRN's total available float is sold short, options traders have been call-skewed recently. Speculators have bought to open 1,969 calls in the last two weeks, compared to 774 puts, according to the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). The resultant 10-day call/put volume ratio of 2.54 is five times the reading from a month ago.