What Happened?

Shares of self defense company AXON (NASDAQ: AXON) jumped 7.1% in the afternoon session after Northcoast Research upgraded the stock to buy from neutral. The firm also set a price target of $742 for the shares. This upgrade suggested that the research firm had a more positive view of the company's prospects. The improved outlook from the analysts appeared to have boosted investor confidence, leading to a rise in the stock's price.

Is now the time to buy Axon? Access our full analysis report here.

What Is The Market Telling Us

Axon’s shares are very volatile and have had 22 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The previous big move we wrote about was 19 days ago when the stock gained 2.8% on the news that investor optimism was buoyed by a strong consensus among Wall Street analysts. The stock gained even as Morgan Stanley trimmed its price target on the stock to $713 from $760, though the firm kept its "Overweight" rating. The broader analyst community held a "Strong Buy" consensus, which appeared to outweigh the single target adjustment.

Axon is up 12.3% since the beginning of the year, but at $632.72 per share, it is still trading 27.4% below its 52-week high of $870.97 from August 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Axon’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $5,199.

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