Cowen upgraded Macy's stock to "outperform"
The shares of Macy's Inc (NYSE:M) are up 1.3% at $21.51 this morning, after Cowen upgraded the stock to "outperform" from "market perform," commending the department store's shift towards digitalization. Cowen added that the stock is well-positioned to drive higher engagement, and forecast a 42% reach for its digital penetration by fiscal year 2023, as its store base reduces.
Macy's stock is coming off a two-year high, reached shortly after a well-received earnings report sent stocks gapping higher. Though the security closed back below the 20-day moving average for the first time in over a month yesterday, the $21 level looks to have emerged as a floor for the security, sending M back above its aforementioned 20-day trendline.
Considering its 88.7% year-to-date lead, the equity could be ripe for even more analyst upgrades. Coming into today, just one member of the brokerage bunch considered M a "strong buy," while six called it a "hold" or worse.
A short squeeze could propel the retail stock higher too. While short interest dropped 10.4% in the last reporting period, the 36.25 million shares sold short make up a hefty 11.7% of the stock's available float, and would take a little over two days to cover, at M's average daily pace of trading.
Meanwhile, puts are running at two times the average daily pace of trading today, with 12,000 across the tape so far, compared to 2,392 calls. The most popular is the weekly 9/10 21.50-strike put, followed by the 21-strike put in the same series. Both positions expire tomorrow evening.