UBS upgraded FOXA to "buy" from "neutral"
Fox Corp (NASDAQ:FOXA) is up 3.1% to trade at $38.86 at last check, after the equity earned an upgrade from UBS to "buy" from "neutral." The brokerage said Fox should be one of the biggest traditional media companies to benefit from sports betting, and noted it is well-positioned in the pay-TV sector.
Analysts were already overwhelmingly bullish towards Fox stock coming into today, with all but one of the seven in coverage sporting a "buy" or better rating. Plus, the 12-month consensus target price of $45.58 is a 17.5% premium to the security's current levels.
On the charts, the $41.50 level rejected the equity's early-December rally off the $34 area. The shares are now bouncing off a familiar floor at the $37.50 mark, which coincides with support at its 40-day moving average. Longer term, FOXA sports a 29% year-over-year lead.
Short sellers have started to hit the exits. Short interest fell 5.8% over the last reporting period, yet the 16.48 million shares sold short still make up 5.3% of the stock's available float, or more than one week's worth of pent-up buying power.
It's worth noting options traders have been much more bullish than usual in the past two weeks. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), FOXA carries a 10-day call/put volume ratio of 7.15, which sits higher than 88% of readings from the past year.