Analyst Update: Analogic, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Zogenix

Analysts are weighing in today on medical technology concern Analogic Corporation (NASDAQ:ALOG), fast-casual restaurant Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG), and pharmaceutical firm Zogenix, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZGNX). Here's a quick look at today's brokerage notes on ALOG, CMG, and ZGNX.

• Last night, ALOG posted a fiscal second-quarter earnings beat, prompting Benchmark to raise its price target on the equity by $4 to $95 while underscoring a "buy" rating. At last check, the shares were up 5.1% at $89.79, and earlier touched an annual high of $90.48. Year-to-date, Analogic Corporation is up about 6.1%. Ahead of earnings, calls were more prominent than usual in the options pits, as ALOG's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.99 sits in the 34th percentile of its annual range. Simply stated, short-term traders are more call-skewed than usual.


• RBC hiked its price target on CMG by $10 to $740 while initiating coverage with an "outperform" rating. Today, the shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. are up 1.4% to hit $664.11. Looking back, the shares have made an impressive recovery since notching an annual low of $472.41 on Apr. 28, adding 40.6%. Not surprisingly, calls are popular in the options pits, as CMG's 50-day International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) call/put volume ratio of 0.96 sits higher than three-quarters of all similar readings taken over the past year.


• ZGNX reported underwhelming fourth-quarter financial results and announced it is selling its painkiller business (its hydrocodone pill Zohydro, specifically) to Pernix Therapeutics Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PTX) for up to $400 million. In response, William Blair cut its rating on ZGNX to "market perform" from "outperform." Today, the shares are down a staggering 26.7% to hit $1.23, contributing to an 10.2% year-to-date loss. Heading into earnings, Zogenix, Inc.'s short-term traders were more call-biased than usual, as the equity's SOIR of 0.01 is just 1 percentage point away from the lowest similar reading taken over the past year. Meanwhile, nearly 20% of the security's available float is sold short, which would take over eight sessions to cover, at average trading volumes. In light of today's bear gap, however, ZGNX landed on the short-sale restricted list.