Cirrus Logic Moves Higher on Barclays Upgrade

CRUS has been consolidating since its Aug. 1 peak

Semiconductor supplier Cirrus Logic, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRUS) is moving 3.7% higher to trade at $56.59 this morning. Behind the lift is a fresh upgrade to "equal-weight" from "underweight" and price-target hike to $55 out of Barclays. The analyst wrote that the firm no longer sees "a catalyst to the downside" and is expecting strength next year on the potential 5G iPhone model release. From a broader perspective, six of nine covering firms carried a "hold" or worse rating coming into today.

CRUS has been climbing the charts since January, now up 64% year-to-date. Since touching an almost two-year peak of $60 on Aug. 1, the shares have been consolidating in the low $50 area, currently positioning them right above the 50-day moving average.

Meanwhile, short interest on CRUS dropped 4.2% during the most recent reporting period, and now accounts for 9% of the stock's total available float. At the equity's average pace of trading, it would take shorts almost eight days to buy back their bearish bets.

In the options pits, near-term options traders are put-skewed at the moment. This is based on the stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 2.46, which ranks in the 98th annual percentile. In other words, such a preference for short-term puts over calls is rare among Cirrus Logic speculators.