ORCL is trading lower ahead of its first-quarter earnings report
Analysts are weighing in on electric car company Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), tech concern Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU), and software company Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on shares of TSLA, MU, and ORCL.
TSLA Target Hike is Faint Praise
Barclays raised its price target on
Tesla stock to $210 from $165, even as the firm backed its "underweight" rating and cut its per-share earnings estimates. The upwardly revised $210 target is still a hefty drop from the stock's current trading price of $363.31, up 0.2% on the day. Yesterday, TSLA briefly took aim at recent resistance in the $370 area, but ultimately ended lower after an
NTSB rebuke on autopilot, and after Jim Chanos said he's still short the stock.
However, options players remain apparently upbeat on TSLA. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), Tesla has racked up a 10-day call/put volume ratio of 1.23, in the 81st percentile of its annual range. This suggests calls are being bought to open at a faster-than-usual clip, relative to puts.
Goldman Joins the Bulls' Camp on MU
Goldman Sachs upgraded Micron Technology stock to "buy" from "neutral" and raised its price target to $40 from $33. The new target stands about 15% above the two-year high of $34.80 set earlier in today's session, with MU last seen trading up 0.5% at $34.45.
Goldman is late to the party with today's upgrade, as most analysts are already optimistic towards the technology concern. Of the 14 brokerage firms following MU stock, 13 have issued "buy" or "strong buy" recommendations.
ORCL Gets a Bullish Nod Ahead of Earnings
Oracle stock received a price-target boost to $58 from $56 at Wedbush this morning, as the brokerage backed its rating of "outperform." This bullish note comes just ahead of ORCL's fiscal first-quarter earnings report, which is due out after the close on Thursday.
The software stock reached a record high of $52.89 yesterday, and sports a year-to-date gain of 37%. However, ORCL is trading fractionally lower at $52.76.
In the options pits, traders have been taking an optimistic approach on ORCL. The equity's ISE/CBOE/PHLX 50-day call/put volume ratio of 3.35 ranks in the 73rd percentile of all other ratios from the past 52 weeks. This suggests a significant skew toward bullish bets over bearish in recent months.