Traders Nibble On Kellogg Put Options As Shares Hover Near Record Highs
by Option Review - March 28th, 2013 3:43 pm
Today’s tickers: K, GBX & EBAY
K - Kellogg Co. – Shares in consumer food products company, Kellogg, are roughly flat on the session, down less than 0.10% at $64.54 as of 11:30 a.m. ET. Options activity on the stock this morning suggests one strategist is bracing for the price of the underlying to pullback a bit during the next few weeks. Shares in the maker of Froot Loops and Frosted Mini-Wheats, up roughly 25% since this time last year, hit a record high of $64.75 yesterday. Overall options volume in excess of 2,400 contracts in play on Kellogg this morning is more than two times the stock’s average daily volume, with the put-to-call ratio topping 5-to-1 as of the time of this writing. Most of the trading traffic in Kellogg options is in the front month puts, with upwards of 1,700 lots changing hands at the April $62.5 strike versus open interest of 519 contracts. It looks like most of the $62.5 strike calls were purchased in the early going at an average premium of $0.20 apiece. Traders long the contracts may profit at expiration next month if shares in Kellogg decline more than 3.0% from the current price of $64.54 to breach the effective breakeven point at $62.30.
GBX - Greenbrier Companies, Inc. – Options on the manufacturer of railroad freight car equipment and ocean-going marine barges are more active than usual this morning after the company announced yesterday it received new orders for 5,400 railcar units values at around $575 million in January, February and March. Shares in the name rallied more than 7.5% on Thursday morning to touch a new 52-week high of $22.98. Traders looking for shares in Greenbrier to extend gains in the near term snapped up front month calls. The April $25 strike calls attracted the most volume, with upwards of 420 lots in play against open interest of 47 contracts. It looks like most of the calls were purchased during the first 15 minutes of the session at a premium…
Testy Tuesday Morning
by phil - January 5th, 2010 8:27 am
Wow – what a lot of work to get back to last Tuesday's high!
As usual, the vast majority of gains came in pre-market trading and the rest came in light-volume, early morning trading while the rest of the day was dominated by every buyer finding a willing seller for 75% of the day's volume. We saw what happened on Thursday when someone big wants to sell and there are no buyers so we'll see how long the bull's luck (manufactured or otherwise) will hold out as we begin to get economic data along with some early earnings reports.
The Ag sector popped 2% yesterday ahead of tonight's earings from MOS with MON checking in tomorrow morning so we'll see how wise those last-minute bets were in short order. SONC also has earnings tonight and we like those guys long-term. SONC makes a decent buy/write candidate as you can buy the stock for $10.29 and sell June $10 puts and calls for $2.25 for a net entry of $8.04 with a very nice 24% profit if called away at $10 and an average entry of $9.02 (a 12% discount) if more stock is put to you below $10 in June.
FDO and WOR also report tomorrow morning. FDO will be interesting but a weak dollar probably hurt them last quarter. Tomorrow night we hear from BBBY, BLUD, OHB and Sonic competitor RT, who seem a bit pricey at $7.50. Thursday we get our first real builder, LEN along with STZ and TXI. After the bell on Thursday we hear from APOL, CRI and SCHN with GBX and PSMT on Friday. AA officially kicks of earnings season next Monday with GAP, INFY, KBH, BGG, SCHW, SHFL, INTC and JPM highlighting the reporters.
We have plenty of data this week including Factory Orders and Pending Home Sales at 10 am along with December Auto Sales throughout the day (did you get a new car for Christmas?). Tomorrow is jobs day, with the ADP Report and Challenger Job Cuts ahead of the bell followed by ISM Services (yesterday's ISM was a nice beat) and, of course, Crude Inventories at 10:30 which are unlikely to sustain $82 oil (USO Jan $40 puts for .80 are a good way to play this). We talked about the other stuff yesterday so I won't repeat it – suffice to say…