Scanning through some of the stocks I track, I noticed that Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS: sentiment, chart, options) was up more than 5%, which is quite a departure from its recent 4-week slump. During this time frame, the sporting-goods retailer has lost 24%. Today's rally is a continuation of a strong Friday, where DKS gained more than 3%. Friday's rally followed decisions from 3 different brokerages to cut the firm's price target. Wedbush Morgan lowered the target to $12 from $15, Needham cut the target to $18 from $28, and Barclays slashed the target to $16 from $20. Again, the stock weathered this news well, as it gained on Friday and has continued the rally today.

DKS could benefit from an unwinding of pessimism, as the firm's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.32 is higher than 83% of the past year's worth of readings. If this pessimism shifts, the stock could be pushed higher. What surprised me is the amount of optimism from analysts. DKS has shed 69% during the past 52 weeks, but analysts maintain a slightly bullish outlook on the sultan of soccer balls. According to Zacks, DKS receives 6 "strong buys," 4 "buys," 8 "holds," and a solitary "strong sell." If the bullish bunch issues downgrades, we could see DKS pulled lower.