Earnings
CASE STUDY — ANR Jan 4 – 8 Bullish Risk Reversal — *closed*
Alpha Natural Resources (ANR) is off morning lows of $6.48 and now up a penny to $7.01. The Jan 4 – 8 bullish risk-reversal on the coal producer is seeing interest again today. Nearly 25,000 traded Friday (see 7/27 color). Today, another 7,500 were bought to open on ISE, according to ISEE data, and 6,000 [...]
Rackspace Hosting Inc (RAX) $43.52 -0.82%
Rackspace (RAX) loses 24 cents to $43.64 and an Aug 35 – 41 (2X1) put ratio spread trades on the stock for 80 cents, 2000X. It’s possibly to hedge earnings risk. The company is due to report 8/7.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc (GMCR) $18.07 -0.71%
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) is off 8 cents to $18.12 and one investor seems to think good news is brewing ahead of the company’s earnings report. GMCR reports tomorrow afternoon. Shares are drifting lower today and the much of the focus in the options market has been on the March 20 – 29 call [...]
American Superconductor Corp (AMSC) $4.02 +2.03%
American Superconductor (AMSC) adds 6 cents to $4 and options on on the stock are seeing some interest today. 1,530 calls and 60 puts so far. Typical daily volume is less than 400 contracts. June 5 calls are the most actives. More than 1,000 traded and The top trade is a 324-lot for a nickel. [...]
Treasurys Getting Smoked. Capitulation?
iShares Long Term Bond Fund (TLT) falling to session lows, down $2.61 to $111.30, and to multi-month lows. The move is testing a late-Oct closing low of $111.46 (intraday low of 110.76 was recorded that day). TBT volume is heavy at 12.8 million shares, or almost 3X the expected. TBT (inverse bond fund) is seeing [...]
Iron Mountain Inc (IRM) $28.95 +0.28%
Iron Mountain (IRM) adds 6 cents to $28.93 and options volume is 14X the daily averge, heavily concentrated in the Jul 32.5 calls on the Boston, MA business software developer. One player bought 5,600 for $1 per contract in morning action. Looks opening. 11,680 IRM Jul 32.5 calls now traded at a VWAP of $1 [...]
Cabot Oil and Gas Corp (COG) $34.36 +1.54%
Cabot Oil and Gas (COG) adds 39 cents to $34.23 and one strategist apparently sells 10,000 Apr 25 puts on the stock at 19 cents to buy an April 35 – 30 (1X2) call ratio spread for 72 cents, 10000X. The three-way, for 53 cents on AMEX, looks like a new position and comes after [...]
Credit Suisse Group (CS) $25.93 +2.29%
8,620 calls and 820 puts traded in Credit Suisse today, a ratio of more than ten-to-one. The top trade is a 1260-lot of Jun 29 calls traded at the 95-cent asking price. Another noteworthy trade in CS is a multi-exchange sweep of 3500 Apr 27 calls at the $1.10 asking price. Shares are up 56 [...]
Western Refining Inc (WNR) $18.96 +2.82%
Western Refining (WNR) adds 64 cents to $19.08 and options action is picking up Wednesday, with 5,570 calls and 1,360 puts traded on the refiner so far. Mar 20 calls, which are 4.7 percent OTM and expiring in 9 days, are the most actives. 4,460 have changed hands at VWAP of 25.9 cents. Data from [...]
Alexa Pharmaceuticals Inc (ALXA) $0.62 -2.41%
Alexza (ALXA) is flat at 64 cents per share and 15,000 Jun 1 calls are apparently sold on the stock at an average of 12.5 cents per contract. It’s possibly closing, as the volume represents 22.2 percent of the open interest, which is 67,711 and the largest position in the name. Jun 1 calls on [...]
