Cerner stock earlier surged to a fresh all-time peak
Medtech name Cerner Corporation (NASDAQ:CERN) earlier surged to a fresh record high of $93.87, and now boasts a 30.2% year-over-year lead. The equity has managed to consolidate above the $93 in the past several weeks, after first breaking through that level following a massive mid-December bull gap, triggered by Oracle's (ORCL) agreement to purchase Cerner for $28.3 billion. If past is precedent, it appears CERN has even more room to run, given the security has recently come near a trendline with historically bullish implications.
Digging deeper, Cerner stock has just come within one standard deviation of its 40-day moving average. According to data from Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White, eight similar moves were observed in the past three years. The security saw a positive one-month return 75% of the time, and averaged a 2.6% pop. A comparable move from its current perch of $93.69 would put the stock at a fresh all-time high of $96.12.
The last time we checked on CERN, investors were making adjustments ahead of the company's quarterly earnings report. Now, the brokerage bunch is bearish towards the equity, with 10 of the 13 analysts in coverage sporting a tepid "hold" or worse rating. Should some of this pessimism start to unwind, shares could move even higher.
A shift in the options pits could create additional tailwinds for Cerner stock. This is per the equity's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.23, which stands higher than 94% of readings from the past year, indicating short-term options traders have rarely been more put-biased.