Analysts are weighing in on tech stock Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM), online restaurant delivery service GrubHub Inc (NYSE:GRUB), and luxury carmaker Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on shares of AKAM, GRUB, and TSLA.
Akamai Technologies stock is up 7.8% to trade at $55.95, after the company reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings and revenue. The earnings beat received a mixed response from analysts, however. Morgan Stanley and Cowen & Company cut their price targets to $46 and to $59, respectively. Meanwhile, at least five other brokerage firms raised their price targets, with the highest mark coming from B. Riley to $70 from $60.
Since hitting an annual low of $44.65 on Aug. 21, AKAM shares have climbed roughly 25% and are pacing for their first close above their 200-day moving average since early May. As such, additional bull notes could come through, since the majority of covering analysts have "hold" or "sell" ratings on the security.
Another stock trading higher this morning is GrubHub, last seen up 4.6% to trade at $54.38, after the company's impressive earnings report. Meanwhile, Stifel boosted its price target to $60 from $53 -- in uncharted territory.GRUB shares have fared well in 2017, adding 43.6% and hitting a record high of $57.61 in early September. Looking elsewhere, near-term options traders have been rather call-heavy. The equity's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.22 ranks in just the 13th annual percentile, meaning short-term options players have favored calls over puts in recent weeks.
Tesla stock is trading down 0.9% at $334.45, despite Baird reiterating its "outperform" rating (subscription required). The electric carmaker is expected to report third-quarter earnings one week from today, and options players could be betting on a post-earnings climb for TSLA shares. Lately, options traders on the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and the NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) have been quite bullish toward the stock, which has gained roughly 57% in 2017 and touched a record high of $389.61 in mid-September. The security's 10-day call/put volume ratio stands at 1.25 -- good enough to rank in the 80th annual percentile. In other words, options traders have bought to open calls relative to puts at an unusual pace in the past two weeks.