Netflix analysts are cheering season 3 of "Stranger Things"
U.S. stocks are pacing for a third straight day in the red. In the meantime, Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) is gaining on "Stranger Things" buzz, chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) has jumped after a bull note, and cosmetics concern e.l.f. Beauty Inc (NYSE:ELF) just got upgraded. Below we'll briefly dig into the shares of NFLX, AMD, and ELF.
NFLX Analysts Call Attention to "Stranger Things" Buzz
Wall Street analysts are praising NFLX stock today, due to the strong reception for season 3 of the company's hit series "Stranger Things" -- which I have yet to wrap up, so please no spoilers. Cowen and Company said that its proprietary survey of U.S. consumers confirms "massive and growing" popularity for the show, adding that it should help the streaming service pick up new users in the coming months. Raymond James also noted the show's "very strong start."
Netflix stock is trading up 1.5% in response, last seen at $381.95, earlier touching its highest point since the first week of May. Some recent short sellers may be concerned, since short interest on the equity shot up 21.1% in the last two reporting periods.
Price-Target Hike Lifts AMD
AMD analysts, meanwhile, are cheering the company's new Ryzen 3000 chips, launched on Sunday. Instinet hiked its price target to $37 from $33, saying it expects a global launch in September. The stock is trading up 2.3% at $32.79, which would be its second highest close this year.
Despite strong demand recently for weekly call options -- including in today's session -- near-term traders are actually quite put-skewed. This is according to Advanced Micro Devices' Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.09, which ranks in the 80th annual percentile, showing such a put-heavy setup is rare for AMD's short-term options traders.
ELF Shares Flirt With Fresh Highs on Upgrade
J.P. Morgan Securities upgraded its opinion on ELF stock to "overweight" from "neutral," and boosted its price target to $17 from $11. The shares have rocketed up 9.6% to $15.58, which sets them up for their highest close in nearly a year. This extends a red-hot run for e.l.f. Beauty, as it's outperformed the S&P 500 Index (SPX) by 21 percentage points in the past two months.
Looking at ELF's own SOIR, short-term traders are extremely tilted toward puts, with the reading of 4.24 ranking in the 99th annual percentile. There's still plenty of skepticism from analysts, too, with two "strong sell" rankings on the board, leaving the door open for additional upgrades.