Analysts are weighing in on specialty retailer Conn's Inc (NASDAQ:CONN), computer graphics company Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), and homebuilder KB Home (NYSE:KBH). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on shares of CONN, NVDA, and KBH.
Oppenheimer upgraded CONN to "outperform" from "perform" before the bell, with analyst Brian Nagel setting the stock's price target at $40 -- about 56% north of the stock's Thursday closing price. CONN gapped higher at the open this morning, and is currently up 7.4% at $27.55, after setting a new two-year high of $28.35 out of the gate.
Short interest dropped 5% for the retailer during the past two reporting periods, but still accounts for 36% of the stock's available float. It would take more than seven days for the remaining shorted shares to be covered, at CONN's average daily trading volume -- suggesting today's pop higher could be partly attributable to a short squeeze.
Citigroup raised its price target on NVDA to $210 from $185 early this morning, with the brokerage firm looking for the shares to blaze past their Sept. 18 record high of $191.20. At last glance, Nvidia was trading up 1.6%, at $178.42, extending another bounce from its 40-day moving average. The stock has been a rewarding target for premium buyers in the past year, judging by its Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) of 95 -- which indicates NVDA has consistently exceeded the options market's volatility expectations.
KB Home received an upgrade to "neutral" from "underperform" at Mizuho, along with three price-target hikes, after the homebuilder once again surpassed earnings expectations. Credit Suisse upped its KBH target to $25 from $24, MKM Partners raised its estimate to $26 from $24, and Barclays issued a boost to $18 from $17 (while backing an "underweight" rating). The homebuilding stock is up 8.9% at $24.21, after earlier marking a new four-year intraday high of $24.38 -- exactly one penny above KBH's July highs.
There's plenty of room for more analysts to upwardly revise their opinions on KBH. Despite the stock trading in new-high territory, 11 out of 12 brokerage firms call the homebuilder a "hold" or "sell."