Analyst Upgrades: Yelp Inc, Spirit Airlines Incorporated, and MGM Resorts International

Analysts are weighing in on online review site Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP), discount airline Spirit Airlines Incorporated (NASDAQ:SAVE), and casino stock MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on YELP, SAVE, and MGM.

• YELP is up 5.3% at $28.34, after Deutsche Bank upgraded to stock's rating to "buy" from "hold," and raised its price target to $33 from $26. The firm cited the company's "considerable upside ... if Yelp can continue to build on improving salesforce efficiency and sustain first-quarter levels of ad fulfillment." Yet, the stock has given up 37% year-over-year, and recently ran into trouble at its year-to-date breakeven mark, around the $28 level. Options traders have taken an unusually optimistic stance of late. Specifically, YELP's 50-day call/put volume ratio across the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) sits at 3.15 -- higher than 79% of all readings in a past year. An unwinding of this bullish sentiment in light of Yelp Inc's weak long-term technical performance could serve as a headwind for the shares going forward.
 

• SAVE received an upgrade to "outperform" from "neutral" at Credit Suisse, which also increased its price target on the stock to $55 from $44 -- a level the shares haven't seen since last August. The stock up is 5.2% at $44.70 on the news, bringing its year-to-date gain to 12.2%, which could have some option bears sweating. At the ISE, CBOE, and PHLX, Spirit Airlines Incorporated has a 10-day put/call volume ratio of 1.19 -- in the 79th percentile of its annual range. Short interest has been soaring lately, too, up 38% during the two most recent reporting periods, and now representing 7.5% of SAVE's total float.


• MGM is 1.5% higher at $24.99, following a price-target hike to $31 from $27 at Susquehanna -- in seven-year-high territory. The stock has been marching higher since February, and analysts are almost entirely in the stock's bullish corner. But near-term options traders have been remarkably put-heavy of late. MGM Resorts International currently holds a Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.09 -- higher than 98% of all readings in the past 12 months -- meaning puts are uncommonly popular among options expiring in three months of less.