What happened
Turkish e-commerce company Hepsiburada (HEPS 0.72%) was on the move in the latter part of this trading week. Much of this action was spurred by an analyst's recommendation upgrade pushing the company into buy territory. According to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence, as of Friday morning week to date, the company's share price was up by almost 34%.
So what
The upgrading party was none other than ever-influential American banking conglomerate Citigroup.
The bank's analyst Maxim Nekrasov switched the bank's Hepsiburada recommendation from neutral to buy, meanwhile more than doubling the price target to $2 per American depositary receipt (ADR). That level is 32% higher than the company's most recent closing ADR price, even after the recent bull run.
The motives behind Nekrasov's rather dramatic move were not immediately apparent. The upgrade comes less than a month after Hepsiburada (known by some as "the Amazon of Turkey") reported its first-quarter results.
These showed some encouraging growth figures, particularly for number of orders (up almost 61% year over year) and revenue, which improved by nearly 16%. On top of that, the e-commerce specialist's net loss narrowed considerably, coming in at 193 million lira ($8 million) from the year-ago deficit of more than 1.2 billion lira ($51 million).
Now what
Investors should never allow the opinion of a pundit -- no matter how informed -- to be the deciding factor in whether to buy a stock. That said, it's quite the alarm bell when an analyst makes such a radical change. Citi's move on Hepsiburada certainly qualifies; perhaps it's worth considering a buy on this inexpensive stock.