Analysts are weighing in on biotech Ardelyx Inc (NASDAQ:ARDX), mobile game maker Glu Mobile Inc. (NASDAQ:GLUU), and retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on shares of ARDX, GLUU, and WMT.
Ardelyx stock is up 41.7% to trade at $7.65, after the company last night announced its constipation drug succeeded in a late-stage study. As a result, Cantor Fitzgerald and Ladenburg Thalmann raised their price targets to $14 and$19, respectively. The latter sits in territory ARDX shares haven't visited since December 2015.
Down roughly 62% year-to-date, ARDX shares have struggled to recover from a mid-May bear gap, touching an all-time low of $4.05 on June 7. Despite its poor performance in recent months, all three analysts following the equity rate it a "strong buy."
Another stock on the rise this morning is Glu Mobile stock, last seen trading 4.5% higher at $3.97 -- earlier hitting an annual high of $4.04 -- after Benchmark upgraded the mobile game maker stock to "buy" from "hold." The brokerage firm expects GLUU's earnings to top forecasts and is optimistic for the launch of "The Swift Life," a social platform designed for Taylor Swift fans.
The security has more than doubled in 2017, with recent pullbacks neatly contained by its 40-day moving average. In fact, the shares haven't close below this trusty trendline since mid-July, and options traders have certainly taken note. GLUU stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.24 ranks in the 7th annual percentile, suggesting near-term options players have rarely been more call-heavy on the security in the past 12 months.
Wal-Mart stock is trading fractionally lower this morning at $85.47, after Goldman Sachs removed the Dow component from its Conviction Buy List, citing its higher valuation. The brokerage firm, however, also issued a price-target hike on WMT to $91 from $87, saying the company is "clearly executing, but not quite transforming."
The security has been grinding higher in 2017, tacking on roughly 24%. WMT shares spiked to a two-year high of $86.29 yesterday, after the company announced a $20 billion buyback plan. Amid the equity's positive price action, short sellers have jumped ship. Short interest on WMT fell roughly 6% in the past two reporting periods to account for just 5.8 million shares, or 3% of the stock's total available float.