Analyst Upgrades: Netflix, Panera Bread, Mobileye

Analysts are weighing in on streaming giant Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), fast-casual restaurant chain Panera Bread Co (NASDAQ:PNRA), and software specialist Mobileye NV (NYSE:MBLY). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on NFLX, PNRA, and MBLY.

• NFLX -- whose stock will split 7-for-1 next Tuesday morning, and which will then release earnings Wednesday evening -- saw its price target raised to $750 from $600 at Nomura. Not only does this represent a nearly 15% premium to last night's close at $654.55, but also a trek into record-high waters. However, NFLX has been a technical standout in 2015, rallying nearly 92% -- and hitting an all-time peak as recently as June 24 -- and appears poised to extend this momentum today, up 1.3% pre-market. Option traders, meanwhile, have shown a preference for long calls over puts in recent months. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), Netflix, Inc.'s 50-day call/put volume ratio of 1.08 ranks in the 74th annual percentile.


• Goldman Sachs weighed in on a number of fast-casual restaurant names today, and for PNRA, this resulted in an upgrade to "neutral" from "sell" and a $14 price-target boost to $172. Technically speaking, PNRA is sitting slightly below its year-to-date breakeven mark -- an area that, along with PNRA's 80-day moving average, has emerged as a ceiling in recent weeks. The stock looks ready to topple both levels today, after settling Wednesday at $174.73. In the options pits, short-term puts have been popular. Panera Bread Co's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 2.22 sits higher than 88% of all similar readings taken in the past year. Simply stated, speculative traders have been more put-heavy than usual toward options set to expire in three months or less.


• To the delight of option traders, MBLY is up 4.6% ahead of the bell -- looking to extend its lead over the round-number $50 mark. Today's projected price move comes after Baird upped its outlook to "outperform" from "neutral" and raised its price target to $73 from $47, never-before-seen territory. Specifically, the brokerage firm said that after sitting on the sidelines since the company went public last August, it is "more comfortable with the pace of active safety adoption (ADAS) and Mobileye's technology position." Also, RBC bumped its price target to $62 from $58. The stock has been charting a path steadily higher since bottoming at a year-to-date low of $32.41 in early March, up 67% at $54.12. Should Mobileye NV extend this uptrend, the shares could be ripe for a short-covering rally. Currently 13.2% of MBLY's float is sold short, representing more than a week's worth of pent-up buying demand, at average daily trading levels.

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