Analyst Upgrades: Sodastream International Ltd, Sarepta Therapeutics Inc, and United Natural Foods, Inc.

Analysts are weighing in on in-home beverage company Sodastream International Ltd (NASDAQ:SODA), biotech stock Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRPT), and food distributor United Natural Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNFI). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on SODA, SRPT, and UNFI.

• SODA is down 0.8% at $21.56, even after Jefferies upgraded the stock to "buy" and raised its price target to $21. The in-home beverage maker recently launched its newest product, dubbed "Beer Bar," in Europe, with plans to expand into other markets over the next 12 months. Sodastream International Ltd is up over 30% in 2016, and last month managed to topple its 20-month moving average for the first time since 2013. SODA shares have outperformed the greater S&P 500 Index (SPX) by 51 percentage points over the last 40 sessions, and the stock's 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) of 86 puts it in "overbought" territory, so a short-term breather may have been in the cards. Meanwhile, additional upgrades could translate into more upside for SODA, as three out of four analysts offer up tepid "hold" opinions.
 

• SRPT is up 28.4% at $20.58, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requested additional information on its drug eteplirsen, which was developed to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy. This is welcome news for the stock, which saw its value drop on rumors that the FDA may approve eteplirsen for "compassionate use", which would require the drugmaker to provide the medication to patients at cost.  As a result of today's FDA news, Wedbush upgraded the stock to "outperform" from "neutral," and issued a price-target hike for the second time this month, more than doubling its target to $34 from $14. Bears have been unusually hot on Sarepta Therapeutics Inc, with the drugmaker's 50-day put/call volume ratio at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) sitting in the 97th percentile of its annual range. Short interest in the stock is also up, increasing 23.4% over the last two reporting periods, and shorted shares now account for a whopping 62.8% of SRPT's float. Should eteplirsen receive more good news down the pike, a mass exodus of bears could propel SRPT even higher.


• UNFI is up 10.7% at $42.99 – a new year-to-date high – after releasing earnings that beat analysts' expectations, and issuing an upbeat forecast for the remainder of the 2016 fiscal year. Oppenheimer, Jefferies, BB&T, Deutsche Bank, and Wedbush all issued price-target hikes for UNFI, and the shares jumped above their 200-day moving average for the first time since April 2015. UNFI has been popular with bullish options buyers, with its 50-day ISE/CBOE/PHLX call/put volume ratio of 25.5 sitting higher than 94% of all other readings from the past year -- a sharp contrast to the bearish sentiment that dominated the UNFI's options pits earlier this year.