Oil Discovery Drives Demand for Harvest Natural Resources Call Options
by Option Review - June 13th, 2011 8:36 pm
Today’s tickers: HNR, ESI, XHB & FII
HNR - Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. – News Harvest Natural Resources discovered oil off the coast of Gabon sent shares in the Houston, TX-based company up as much as 29.0% to an intraday high of $13.56. The sharp rally in the price of the underlying on the reports spurred bullish plays in Harvest’s options this morning. Shares are currently up a lesser 12.65% at $11.83 as of 12:25pm on the East Coast. Options players purchased roughly 1,600 calls at the June $12.5 strike for an average premium of $0.54 each. The call options were in-the-money earlier in the session, but are now trading out-of-the-money as the rally has cooled somewhat. Investors long the calls are poised to profit should shares in HNR increase 10.2% over the current price of $11.83 to surpass the average breakeven point to the upside at $13.04 by expiration on Friday. Like-minded bulls seeking a longer-term run-up in the price of the shares picked up roughly 1,000 calls at the September $12.5 strike for an average premium of $2.09 a-pop. Call buyers at this strike make money if shares in Harvest Natural Resources surge 23.3% to trade above the average breakeven price of $14.59 by September expiration. Options implied volatility on Harvest stands 9.8% higher on the session at 82.44% just after 12:30pm in New York.
ESI - ITT Educational Services, Inc. – Shares in the for-profit provider of degree programs in the U.S. rallied nearly 2.0% this morning to touch an intraday high of $83.74 after analysts at Piper Jaffray raised their share price target on the stock to $84.00 from $75.00. Despite the rise in shares of ITT Educational Services today one options strategist is positioning for the price of the underlying to drop sharply ahead of June…
Werner Enterprises Sees Bearish Activity
by Option Review - October 22nd, 2009 4:35 pm
Today’s tickers: WERN, MDVN, GT, XRX, SLE, AMGN, ESI, EBAY, FFIV & SLE
WERN – Werner Enterprises, Inc. – The truckload freight services firm edged onto our ‘hot by options volume’ market scanner due to bearish trading in the June contract. Shares of WERN slipped 0.5% lower this afternoon to $20.22. One investor initiated a ratio put spread by purchasing 6,000 put options at the June 20 strike for 2.25 apiece, and by simultaneously selling 12,000 puts at the lower June 17.5 strike for 1.10 each. The net cost of the trade is reduced to just one nickel per contract. The trader is probably aiming to protect the value of a long position in shares of WERN through expiration. Downside protection will kick in if shares decline more than 27 cents from the current price given the effective breakeven point on the trade at $19.95.
MDVN – Medivation, Inc. – Long-term bearish activity in the June 2010 contract suggests one investor may be bulking up on downside protection in case shares of biopharmaceutical company, Medivation, Inc., continue to decline. The stock is currently trading less than 0.5% lower to stand at $26.51. A put spread was established through the purchase of 10,000 puts at the June 22.5 strike for 7.80 apiece, marked against the sale of 10,000 puts at the lower June 12.5 strike for 1.87 each. The net cost of the pessimistic play amounts to 5.93 per contract. The spread was most likely initiated by an investor holding a long position in the underlying shares. Putting on the protective stance shields the investor from losses beneath the breakeven point at $16.57. However, if the trader is in fact long the stock, he will suffer a 38% decline in the value of MDVN before downside protection kicks in at the breakeven price described. An alternate scenario is that the investor does not hold a long position in MDVN. If this is the case, the trader is uber-bearish and expects to garner profits from significant declines in Medivation through expiration in June.
GT – The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. – Option traders populated the November contract on GT with bullish plays this afternoon. Shares added more than 2.5% during the session to arrive at the current price of $17.83. Some investors targeted the now in-the-money November 17.5 strike to purchase 3,800 calls for an average premium of one dollar apiece.…