Analyst Upgrades: First Solar, Dicks Sporting Goods, Mellanox

Analysts upwardly revised their ratings and price targets on First Solar, Inc. (FSLR), Dicks Sporting Goods Inc (DKS), and Mellanox Technologies, Ltd. (MLNX)

Feb 24, 2016 at 10:24 AM

Analysts are weighing in on solar energy stock First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR), retail interest Dicks Sporting Goods Inc (NYSE:DKS), and chipmaker Mellanox Technologies, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MLNX). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on FSLR, DKS, and MLNX.

FSLR is 8.9% higher at $67.29, after blasting past fourth-quarter earnings estimates. Baird and Janney raised their price targets on the stock to $74 and $84, respectively -- a range First Solar, Inc. hasn't explored since 2011. Option traders may need to rethink their bearish positions, should the rally keep going today -- the security's 10-day put/call volume ratio of 2.07 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) is higher than 98% of all readings taken in the last 12 months.

B. Riley upgraded DKS to "buy" from "neutral," and Cowen and Company gave the stock a price-target hike to $41 from $38, but the shares are 0.8% lower at $40.11 today. Dicks Sporting Goods Inc is up 13.6% in 2016, but despite outperforming the S&P 500 Index (SPX) by more than 11 percentage points over the past three months, bears are still rampant in the equity's options pits. At the ISE, CBOE and PHLX, DKS has a 10-day put/call volume ratio of 4.42 -- in the 90th percentile of its annual range.

An upgrade to "buy" from "hold" and a price-target hike to $60 from $46 at Topeka Capital, along with price-target increases from FBN and D.A. Davidson, have MLNX up 2.3% at $47.48. Mellanox Technologies, Ltd. has surged more than 19% since late January, and is staring up at a familiar speed bump in the $48 range. Five of the seven analysts following the firm already rate it a "strong buy," without a "sell" in sight. And calls have been the options of choice, particularly among near-term traders. MLNX has a Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.69 -- lower than 80% of comparable readings taken in the last year -- indicating traders have been heavily call-skewed on options expiring in the next three months.

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