Microsoft (MSFT) is seeing brisk trading ahead of earnings. Shares are up 28 cents to $26.66 and 426,000 options have traded in the software giant so far today. The volume consists of 291,000 calls and 135,000 puts. It seems clear that investors are leaning on the bullish side of the trade ahead of the report. May 27 calls are 1.2 percent OTM and have traded 61,000 contracts. The Weekly $27 calls, which come off the board tomorrow, are the next most actives. 47,690 contracts have changed hands. Open interest is 9,581 and the option has a delta of .40. The Weekly and May 26 calls are seeing heavy trading as well. When earnings are released after the closing bell today, analysts expect Microsoft to post a quarterly profit of 56 cents per share on $16.2 billion in revenues. Implied volatility in Microsoft options is up 3.5 percent to 25 ahead of the results.