Pre-earnings action in American Eagle (AEO) today. Shares are up 11 cents to $13.63 and recent trades include a multi-exchange sweep of 5,000 Jun 15 calls at the 25-cent asking price. ISEE data indicate a customer bought-to-open a new position. 6,265 now traded. Another sweep of 1,668 Nov 14 calls traded at the $1.35 asking price. 1,839 have now changed hands. The apparel retailer lost 7.5 percent Friday on disappointing earnings from ARO and GPS. Today’s call buyers might be taking bullish positions on the view that the bad news has now been discounted heading into AEO’s earnings, which are due out tomorrow morning. Shares are down 14.9 percent over the past month.

*Scanning all single-stocks subject to 2500 contracts minimum call or put volume

Saks Holding shares are off 7c to $10.85 and option volume 13x the daily average, being driven by 25,000 contract block of the August 10 puts which were sold at the 40c bid. This is an opening sale and likely tied to stock. The traded coincided with a block of 725K shares at $10.92.

*Scanning all single-stocks subject to 2500 contracts minimum call or put volume

Cracker Barrel (CBRL) is under fire today after the restaurant chain reported disappointing third quarter results and guided estimates lower for the fourth quarter. Shares are down $5.5 to $47.64. Today’s options volume of 1,700 puts and 385 calls is 7X the average daily volume for the name. The top trade is a 180-contract lot of Jun 45 puts at the 45-cent asking price. 1,110 traded, as it appears that some investors are buying the contract, which is 5.5 percent OTM with 24 days of life remaining, on concerns about additional losses for Cracker Barrel shares in the weeks ahead.

The most actively traded equity options so far today are Cisco Jan 16 puts, Jan 12.5 puts, and Jul 16 calls. The activity includes a ratio spread, in which the strategist apparently sold 10,000 Jan 16 puts at $1.29 and bought 20,000 Jan 12.5 puts at 29 cents. This 1X2 put ratio backspread might be a closing trade or rolling activity, as open interest is sufficient to cover in both contracts. Jan 16s have now traeed 21,251X. Meanwhile, volume in the Jul 16 calls is 16,229 contracts and, with 96 percent trading at the ask, it looks like buyers are dominating the action. CSCO is down 4 cents to $16.31 today and came under fire on May 12 after earnings were reported. Shares lost 4.8 percent on the news and are down another 3.7 percent since that time. A fresh 52-week low of $16.22 was set yesterday.