Stocks are searching for direction out of the gate this morning ahead of the Fed's afternoon policy announcement. Among specific stocks in focus today are e-commerce giant Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), delivery concern FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX), and biopharmaceutical company Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALNY). Here's a closer look at what's moving shares of AMZN, FDX, and ALNY.
Amazon is working on a pair of "smart glasses," according to a report from the Financial Times. As such, the stock is up fractionally today to trade at $971.20. While this is far removed from the shares' record high of $1,083.31, from July 27, they recently bounced from the $939.51 level, which corresponds to a 23.6% Fibonacci retracement of their 2016 low and 2017 peak. This level contained AMZN's June pullback, before the equity rallied to record highs.
Analysts certainly have high hopes. Most notably, Amazon has an average 12-month price target of $1,147.28 -- representing 18.1% upside from the shares' current perch.
Shares of FedEx are up 1% this morning at $218.16, even after the company announced lower-than-expected fiscal first-quarter earnings. Raymond James responded by raising its price target to $232 from $228, in record-high territory. Plus, FDX stock remains 17.5% higher on a year-over-year basis. This could explain why analysts are so bullish -- unlike options traders. As it stands now, 12 of 16 covering brokerage firms say to buy the equity.
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals has exploded 33% out of the gate to trade at $99.75 -- and touched a 52-week high of $100 earlier -- after the company's genetic disease treatment, patisiran, met its goals in a late-stage study. The shares now boast a year-to-date lead of 166%, and more upside could be in store if short sellers continue to cover their positions. These bearish bets declined by 6.5% during the two most recent reporting periods, but 11.6% of ALNY's float is still dedicated to short interest.