Analysts are weighing in on data storage stock NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP), home furnishings retailer RH (NYSE:RH), and music streaming service Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on shares of NTAP, RH, and P.
NetApp last night posted better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter results and an impressive current-quarter outlook, helping the stock rise 13.5% in electronic trading. A number of bull notes from analysts have come through, including an upgrade to "outperform" from "market perform" at BMO, which also raised its price target to $62 from $43.
The shares were already hot coming into today, touching a six-year peak of $47.20 on Nov. 9 and settling at $45.82 on Wednesday for a year-to-date gain of 30%. If the pre-market gains come to fruition NTAP would trade above the half-century mark for the first time since July 2011.
Even more upgrades from analysts could come through, too. That's because the majority of covering brokerage firms still have "hold" or "strong sell" ratings on the equity. Another round of upbeat attention could provide even more tailwinds for the software stock.
It's a similar story for RH stock, which is up close to 20% before the open thanks to the company's strong current-quarter forecast and a subsequent round of bull notes. Specifically, Citigroup upped its price target to $111 from $76, and Deutsche Bank topped that by boosting its target to $130. This would mark a second straight post-earnings surge for the equity, as last quarter it jumped almost 45% after earnings. Overall, RH shares have rallied from their perch near $30 at start of the year to last night's close of $83.30, and on Nov. 3 hit a 52-week peak of $93.64.
This is all terrible news for short sellers. These bears control a whopping 41% of the security's float -- though they've been covering since April. A continuation of this trend will likely help extend RH's run up the charts.
BMO this morning upgraded Pandora stock to "outperform" from "market perform" but cut its price target to $7 from $11, saying the company should benefit from newfound attention being paid to audio advertisements, as well as the streaming platform's addition of non-music content. P shares badly needed a dose of positive news, since their Wednesday close of $4.93 has them down over 62% in 2017. Less than a week ago, the security bottomed at an all-time low of $4.44.
Not surprisingly, short sellers have been swarming, with short interest rising another 6.2% last reporting period. Meanwhile, the equity may have been due for a bounce even without today's analyst attention, as it sits deep in oversold territory, based on its 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) of 24.