Cantor Targets 52% Upside for Voyager Therapeutics Stock

The brokerage waxed optimistic on VYGR's gene therapy-based drug candidates

The shares of Voyager Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:VYGR) jumped out of the gate, after Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage with an "outperform" rating and a $27 price target -- a 52% premium to last night's close at $17.76. The brokerage firm said the company's gene therapy-based drug candidates for a number of central nervous system diseases could "prove transformational," and recent collaborations with AbbVie (ABBV) and Neurocrine Biosciences (NBIX) have "enhanced investor confidence." However, the stock has since swung down 0.1% to trade at $17.74.

Analysts were already bullish on VYGR stock, with two-thirds of those in coverage maintaining a "strong buy" rating. And amid relatively low absolute volume, options traders have shown a preference for long calls over puts in recent weeks, buying to open 22.18 calls for each put over the past 10 sessions at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX).

Elsewhere on Wall Street, short sellers have been in cover mode, with short interest down 11.9% in the two most recent reporting periods to 1.18 million shares. This still represents a healthy 5.2% of VYGR's available float, or 4.9 times the equity's average daily pace of trading.

Voyager Therapeutics stock has certainly benefited from this recent round of short covering. The shares are up roughly 128% from their late-January record low of $7.76, and broke out above their 200-day moving average last week. And coming off back-to-back daily 10% gains, the equity's 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) closed last night at 81 -- well into overbought territory, suggesting a near-term pullback may have been in the cards.