Jefferies raised the the pet supply e-tailer's price target to $100 from $59
The shares of Chewy Inc (NYSE:CHWY) are up 5.9% at $68.68 this morning, after Jefferies upgraded the pet supply e-tailer to "buy" from "hold," and raised its price target to $100 from $59. The analyst in question said a rise in pet adoption among millennials throughout the COVID-19 pandemic would drive the company's growth model, and that 37% of pet owners cited Chewy as their preferred e-commerce platform for pet supplies. The analyst also mentioned the subscribe-and-save method from competitors did not impact as much as previously anticipated.
On the charts, the stock has experienced unprecedented growth over the past several months. Shares had been nabbing records on a nearly monthly basis since early March, to bite an all-time-high on Sept. 2 of $74.84. And while the equity has cooled off slightly from that peak, the stock is still getting support from the 60-day moving average. Year-over-year, CHWY is up an impressive 142.6%.
Analysts are split toward the security coming into today, yet there is still plenty of room for additional upgrades moving forward. This is per the five of 12 covering firms that represent a tepid "hold" recommendation on the equity.
Short sellers have been hitting the exits lately, too. Short interest dropped 20.9% in the last two reporting periods, though the 12.40 million shares sold short still make up 23.2% of the stock's available float.
Traders looking to speculate on Chewy stock's next move should consider options. The equity's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 60% sits in the 18th percentile of its annual range, suggesting short-term options are pricing in relatively low volatility expectations. In other words, the stock's near-term options are attractively priced at the moment.