Analyst Update: Sunoco, Eli Lilly, Vipshop Holdings Ltd

Analysts are weighing in today on gasoline distributor Sunoco LP (NYSE:SUN), pharmaceutical concern Eli Lilly and Co (NYSE:LLY), and Chinese e-tailer Vipshop Holdings Ltd - ADR (NYSE:VIPS). Here's a quick roundup of today's brokerage notes on SUN, LLY, and VIPS.

• SUN is up 7.7 % at $35.67, after pipeline operator Energy Transfer Partners LP (NYSE: ETP) announced it would sell its nearly 69% stake in Sunoco LLC to parent company SUN, in a $2.2 billion deal. Prior to the announcement, Deutsche Bank cut its price target on SUN to $37 from $40 -- still a premium over current prices. Despite today's gains, Sunoco LP sits on a 28.3% year-to-date loss, and continues to stare up at resistance in the $36-$37 region. While eight of the 12 brokerage firms following the stock give it a "buy" rating or better, option traders have grown increasingly bearish on SUN, especially since the company reported third-quarter earnings below expectation on Nov. 4. Currently, almost one-fifth of the stock's total available float is sold short, which would take more than two weeks of trading to cover, at SUN's average daily rate of trading.

• LLY earned an upgrade to "outperform" from "market perform," along with a price-target hike to $100 from $90, at BMO, marking the stock's second price-target increase in less than a week. The drugmaker -- last seen trading at $80.79, up 1.6% -- has been trending sideways for a few weeks, but recently bounced off its 200-day moving average. What's more, LLY boasts a year-to-date gain of nearly 17%. Analyst attention on Eli Lilly and Co comes one week after the company reported that its new drug significantly cut risks of heart-related death and hospitalization in type 2 diabetes patients. Still, only seven of 12 firms following LLY rate it better than a "hold," and options traders are taking a bearish stance. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), LLY sports a 10-day put/call volume ratio of 1.45 -- higher than 91% of readings in the past year. Should sentiment turn favorable, the shares could soon move up toward their 14-year high of $92.85, seen in September. 

• VIPS has been falling hard since the company downwardly revised its third-quarter revenue forecast last week. Vipshop Holdings Ltd found itself on the receiving end of three price-target cuts today, with Jefferies and HSBC lowering their targets to $23 and $24 respectively -- still well above today's new annual low of $12.02. Deutsche Bank, however, revised its price target on the security all the way down to $8.30. VIPS, which was last seen down 10% at $12.25, will report quarterly earnings after tomorrow's close, and options traders are pricing in a post-earnings move of 13.6%, according to near-term at-the-money straddle data. This is a relatively large swing compared to VIPS' average one-day move of 9.9% over the last eight quarters. Meanwhile, eight out of nine brokerage firms give VIPS a "strong buy" rating, and the stock's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 2.93 at the ISE/CBOE/PHLX sits in the 96th percentile of its annual range. Put simply, there is plenty of optimism left to unwind, should VIPS continue its descent.

For other stocks in analysts' crosshairs, read Analyst Upgrades: NVIDIA Corporation, Oracle Corporation, and Salesforce.com, inc. and Analyst Downgrades: Best Buy Co Inc, Twitter Inc, and Ferrari NV.