Array Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ:ARRY) is up 13.7% to trade at $14.93, and earlier touched a 16-year high of $15.66, after Leerink upgraded the cancer treatment specialist to "outperform" from "market perform," while issuing a price-target hike to $19 from $12. The upgrade comes after the biotech stock reported strong clinical results over the weekend from its BEACON cancer treatment trials, with Leerink adding that the related sales opportunity could be larger than it previously expected. Stifel and Cowen chimed in with price-target hikes of their own, to $20 and $17, respectively.
The burst today has ARRY stock on track for its best session since February, and the drug stock has now added 68% in the last six months. A mid-December bull gap pushed ARRY stock past the formerly resistant $12 level, and the shares have been guided higher by their rising 20-day moving average ever since.
A short squeeze could push the biotech stock even higher. Short interest decreased by nearly 27% during the last two reporting periods to 15.17 million shares. This still represents a hefty 11% of ARRY'S total available float, and at the equity's average daily trading volume, it would take nearly five sessions to repurchase these pessimistic positions -- plenty of fuel for additional gains.
This skeptical outlook certainly isn't shared by the broader analyst community. Specifically, eight of the nine covering brokerage firms have handed out "strong buy" recommendations. Moreover, the consensus 12-month price target of $17.78 stands as a 19% premium to the stock's current perch.