Too Many Options: $SUNE, $S, $BBRY, $YHOO, $AA

by Enis March 31, 2014 6:33 am • Commentary

Options volumes in the single stock arena were light, with most of the trading focused on weekly macro ETFs.  Here were a few of the exceptions:

1.  SUNE – Trader rolled 40k of the Apr19th 20 calls to the May17th 20 calls, paying $0.88 for the privilege.  SUNE bounced off its 50 day moving average on Thursday, and has not breached that moving average since September.  Call open interest remains quite high (383k in total, vs. 108k for puts), as hedge funds have been quite involved in rolling calls up and out throughout the past 6 months.

2.  S – Another roll, with the trader selling 30k of the Apr19th 9 calls at 0.59, to buy 27k of the May 9 calls for 0.92 in the morning.  S calls have traded more than 5x puts over the past month.  30 day implied volatility neared 60.  Sprint reports earnings in late April.

3.  BBRY – Stock declined 7.5% after a disappointing earnings report on Friday.  BBRY fell to its lowest level since mid-January.  The largest print was a buyer of 13,565 of the June 9 puts for 0.95 near noon.  The Apr19th 10 calls also traded 19k on the day at an average price of 0.18.

4.  YHOO – Buyer of 15k of the June 40/45 call spread for 0.80 to open.  YHOO’s high in January was 41.72, and the stock also stalled out just above $40 in late 2005/early 2006.  Break-even on the call spread is $40.80, and might be anticipating a strong Alibaba IPO.  Our latest thoughts on YHOO were included in our trade update on Wednesday, when Dan took off a put spread for a gain.

5.  AA – AA is trading at its highest level since the summer of 2011.  Call options have been more active for several months now, but the most active line on Friday was the Apr19th 13 put, which traded over 15k for an average price of 0.705.  AA reports earnings after the close on April 8th.