J.P. Morgan Securities upgraded AAL to "overweight"
The shares of American Airlines Group Inc (NASDAQ:AAL) are up 4.3% to trade at $14.47 this morning, after J.P. Morgan Securities upgraded the stock to "overweight" from "neutral" and hiked its price target to $29 from $26. The analyst praised the firm's valuation and said the airliner, alongside Delta (DAL) and United Air Lines (UAL), is pulling away from the competition.
Analysts were pessimistic towards the equity coming into today, with just one of 14 recommending a "buy" against 13 "hold" or worse recommendations. Meanwhile, the 12-month consensus price target of $16.85 is a 16.7% premium to current levels.
Call traders are all over the equity following the upgrade. Already, 20,000 bullish bets have crossed the tape, which is triple the intraday average volume. New positions are opening at the two most popular contracts, the weekly 5/12 14.50- and 15-strike calls, respectively.
A short squeeze could create additional tailwinds for American Airlines stock going forward. Short interest added 13.2% in the most recent reporting period, and the 66.28 million shares sold short make up a whopping 10.3% of the security's available float.
Lastly, now could be the right opportunity to weigh in on AAL's next move with options. The security's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 37% sits at the 3rd percentile of its annual range. To put it simply, the equity currently sports affordably priced premiums.
On the charts, American Airlines stock is trading at its highest level in roughly a month, with newfound support at its descending 50-day moving average. Year-to-date, AAL is up 13.7%.