Analyst Upgrades: Yelp Inc, NVIDIA Corporation, and Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc

Analysts upwardly revised their ratings and price targets on Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP), NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), and Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX)

Josh Selway

Aug 10, 2016 at 10:20 AM

Analysts are weighing in on review app Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP), chipmaker NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), and biotech stock Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on YELP, NVDA, and VRX.

Analysts are rushing to raise their outlooks on YELP this morning, after the company reported impressive second-quarter sales and a strong full-year outlook. Mizuho and Raymond James both upgraded the stock to the equivalent of a "buy," while dozens of other brokerage firms raised their price targets. Yelp Inc has so far added 12.9% at $36.86, earlier touching an annual high of $37.45. YELP stock is now up a whopping 45% over the past 12 months, and more gains could be in store if short sellers begin to cover. For instance, almost 16% of the stock's float is sold short, which equates to nearly a week's worth of buying power, at average trading volumes.

NVDA hit another all-time high this morning at $59.50, on the heels of a price-target increase to $40 from $30 at Barclays. However, the stock was last seen 0.2% lower at $58.75. NVIDIA Corporation has outpaced the broader S&P 500 Index (SPX) by 32 percentage points in the past three months, and it appears options traders have been betting on more upside. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), the stock has posted a 10-day call/put volume ratio of 2.46, meaning call buying has more than doubled put buying in the past two weeks.

VRX is down 4.6% this morning to trade at $26.88, even after price-target hikes from Piper Jaffray, Canaccord Genuity, and RBC. The latter firm set its target at $36 -- territory not explored since early May. Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc has been notoriously bad on the charts, though the stock enjoyed impressive gains on Tuesday following its quarterly results. In the meantime, some bearish traders appear to be hitting the exits, as short interest fell by 9% during the last two reporting periods.

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