T-Mobile U.S. Inc (NASDAQ:TMUS) stock is enjoying a 1.4% lift to trade at $180.06 this morning, after landing an upgrade to "buy" from "neutral" at Bank of America. The firm also set a price target of $220, saying investors are overreacting to satellite competition and T-Mobile has the best chance at being unscathed by other U.S. telecom peers.
TMUS tapped a more than 52-week low of $165.66 on June 30 and has shed 26% over the past 12 months. The $170 level has been a floor for shares during the past week, though the descending 50-day moving average has added overhead pressure since April.
Bulls have been flocking to the stock of late. This is per the 50-day call/put volume ratio of 5.67 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). This ratio ranks in the 96th percentile of its annual range. Echoing this is TMUS' Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.29, which ranks higher than just 8% of readings from the past year.
Short interest has been on the rise, up 25.6% during the past two reporting periods and now accounting for 4.8% of the stock's available float and would take the better part of a week to buy back.
The equity also sports an Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecards (SVS) reading of 75 out of 100. This suggests the stock has realized higher volatility than its options have priced in over the past 12 months.
