U.S. stocks are edging higher in pre-market trading this morning. Among specific stocks in focus today are search giant Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), biotech Nabriva Therapeutics plc - Ordinary Shares (NASDAQ:NBRV), and defense stock Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC). Here's a closer look at what's moving shares of GOOGL, NBRV, and NOC.
Alphabet stock is again in focus, with Reuters reporting the company has offered to show rival websites through an auction process in order to quit favoring its own shopping service. The move would be an attempt to appease European regulators. On the other hand, MKM Partners this morning noted that FAANG giants such as Amazon.com and GOOGL look relatively cheap right now, based on their price-to-earnings ratios.
The equity closed Friday at $935.29, up 18% year-to-date. However, the 50-day moving average has acted as stiff resistance in recent weeks. Like options traders, though, analysts are remaining bullish. There are 27 brokerage firms covering the Google parent, and 24 of them say to buy the shares.
Shares of Nabriva Therapeutics are set to double in value when the market opens, thanks to positive late-stage trial results for the company's pneumonia treatment. On Friday, the drug stock closed at $6.86, its lowest settlement since early January, and well below its 52-week high of $12.75 from March 2. Today's pending move seemingly validates analysts' bullish outlooks. Specifically, all six covering brokerage firms say NBRV stock is a "strong buy."
Northrop Grumman stock is edging higher in electronic trading, thanks to news it's buying Orbital ATK Inc (NYSE:OA) for $7.8 billion. Like many other defense stocks, NOC has been marching higher for years now, adding 26.3% during the past 12 months to trade at $267.03, touching a record high of $274.61 on Aug. 10.
Despite the equity's strong showing on the charts, options traders have been quite bearish in recent weeks. Data from the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) shows a 10-day put/call volume ratio of 1.70, which ranks in the 81st annual percentile. In other words, put buying has been unusually popular, relative to call buying.