The analyst said he wasn't calling a bottom, however
The shares of upscale accessories retailer Tiffany & Co. (NYSE:TIF) exploded higher back in May after earnings, eventually peaking at an all-time high of $141.64 in late July, but disappointed with the following quarterly update in August. The stock has struggled in the weeks since, but recently bounced near the round $120 level, roughly where it opened after the impressive earnings report in May. Meanwhile, an analyst at Oppenheimer is expressing confidence in TIF going forward, upgrading their opinion this morning.
Jumping right in, the brokerage firm lifted its rating on the equity to "outperform" from "perform," and hiked its price target to $152 from $145. Analyst Brian Nagel called out the company's new product launches and strengthening international markets, though he added, "We are not necessarily calling bottom in TIF." Overall, Nagel simply sees a better risk/reward outlook for the shares given their recent pullback.
As it stands now, 16 of the 28 analysts tracking Tiffany & Co. have "buy" or "strong buy" ratings, and the average 12-month price target of $140.92 represents a 14.2% premium to yesterday's closing price of $123.37. Sentiment has been pretty bullish in the options pits, too, with call buying more than doubling put buying during the past 10 days at the
International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX).
Digging deeper, much of this activity occurred at the September 125 and 130 calls, where spread activity occurred back on Aug. 29. Since 5,000 contracts of the 130 calls crossed at the bid price compared to 2,500 contracts that were bought at the 125 strike, it would seem a trader initiated a call ratio spread on TIF, expecting a short-term upside move. So far today, the shares have gained 1.3% to trade at $125.