J.P. Morgan Securities upgraded CCL to "overweight"
J.P. Morgan Securities upgraded Carnival Corp (NYSE:CCL) to "overweight" from "neutral," and raised its price target to $16 from $11, with the analyst in question citing strong demand for cruises. The brokerage said new data showed consumers spending more on travel and less on other goods such as apparel. CCL is up 6.5% at $13.94 at last check.
The security is now trading at a fresh one-year year high, and is on track to score its seventh daily gain in eight sessions, with support from its 20-day moving average. Fresh off its fourth consecutive weekly win, Carnival stock boasts an impressive 62.4% year-to-date lead.
Call volume is ramping up in response to the upgrade. Already, more than 67,000 bullish bets, or 11 times the average intraday volume, have crossed the tape. Most popular is the June 14 call, followed by the 14.50 call in the same monthly series, with new positions opening at the latter.
This interest in calls is nothing new. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), the security's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 2.63 ranks higher than all readings from the past year. This suggests long calls have been much more popular than usual of late.
These options traders are in luck, as CCL sports attractively priced premiums. This is per the equity's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 54%, which sits in the relatively low 15th percentile of its 12-month range.
It's also worth noting that short sellers are already starting to hit the exits, with short interest down 5.6% in the most recent reporting period. The 128.94 million shares sold short make up 12.6% of CCL's available float, however, indicating an unwinding of pessimism could still create tailwinds.