Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on GNRC with a "buy" rating
Generac Holdings Inc. (NYSE:GNRC) is up 2.6% at $93.55, after Janney Montgomery Scott rated the equity a "buy" with a $160 price target, which is a roughly 76% premium to last night's close.
The brokerage is joining an optimistic bunch, with 13 of 21 analysts in question calling GNRC a "strong buy" coming into today. Echoing this, the 12-month consensus target price of $149.14 is already a 63.6% premium to current levels.
Meanwhile, short sellers have been piling on, with short interest is up 11.5% in the last two reporting periods. The 5.39 million shares sold short currently make up for 8.8% of the equity's available float.
Short-term options traders lean bullish. This is per Generac stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR), which sits higher than only 12% of annual readings, meaning these traders have rarely been more call-biased.
It's also worth noting the equity's Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) ranks at 94 out of 100, meaning GNRC tends to outperform volatility estimates -- a good thing for buyers.
On the charts, the stock just hit a Dec. 22, two-year low of $86.33. The 30-day moving average has been pressuring shares lower since August, contributing to its 74.1% deficit so far in 2022.