Raymond James upgraded the stock to "buy" from "outperform"
The shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) are up 2.7% to trade at $1,404.38 at last check, after the stock was upgraded by Raymond James to "strong buy" from "outperform." The firm cited the company's recent menu price increases, believing that beyond covering the higher wages -- which will go into effect by the end of June -- it will also increase profits for the second half of the year.
The equity is also brushing off a price-target cut from Wells Fargo to $1,720 from $1,818 this morning. On the charts, today's pop has CMG breaking out above the 30-day moving average, which kept a cap on last session's gains, as well as the stock's year-to-date breakeven.
Meanwhile, shorts have been building their positions. Short interest is up 25.3% during the last two reporting periods to make up 2.9% of Chipotle stock's available float, or nearly three days' worth of pent-up buying power.
Options are attractively priced at the moment, too, per the stock's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 23%, which stands higher than just 1% of all other readings in its annual range. This implies that options players are pricing in extremely low volatility expectations.