Analysts are weighing in on video game stock Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI), cloud concern Arista Networks Inc (NYSE:ANET), and gene therapy specialist bluebird bio Inc (NASDAQ:BLUE). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on shares of ATVI, ANET, and BLUE.
Activision Blizzard stock is up 2.4% before the open, after the company reported a third-quarter beat and upwardly revised its full-year outlook. This news comes as the firm's highly anticipated Call of Duty: WWII game begins to hit the shelves today. Meanwhile, Barclays raised its price target to $66 from $65, while Jefferies upped its target to $82 from $80. Most analysts are already very bullish on the shares, with 17 of 21 covering brokerage firms rating the equity a "buy" or "strong buy."
After closing yesterday at $65.45, this morning's pre-market move puts ATVI on pace to open at a record high. Still, the pending price action is well below what options traders were pricing in.
Arista Networks stock is in line for an even bigger post-earnings rally, with the shares pointed 11% higher before the open. The cloud company blew past Wall Street's third-quarter estimates, resulting in several bullish notes from analysts. For example, D.A. Davidson upgraded ANET to "buy" from "neutral," and raised its price target to $224 from $180.
The security actually pulled back sharply yesterday ahead of the quarterly event, settling at $181.17, but it remains up more than 87% year-to-date, and could take out its Oct. 31 record high of $201.95 today. Many options traders were betting on more gains, too, based on Arista Networks' 10-day call/put volume ratio of 1.47 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), which ranks in the 79th annual percentile -- meaning call buying has been unusually popular relative to put buying.
Morgan Stanley this morning upgraded bluebird bio stock to "equal weight" from "underweight," and boosted its price target to $151 from $105. However, this is still below the equity's Thursday close of $154.05. An upbeat earnings report recently sent BLUE shares to a two-year high of $161.82 earlier this week, and they currently sport a 52-week gain of 232%. But even after a 41.5% decline in the last two reporting periods, short interest represents 11.2% of the security's float, suggesting bluebird bio could benefit from a short-squeeze situation.