Friday, July 30, 2010

Power-One Moves On Q2/Q3 Announcement

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Power-One, Inc. (NASDAQ: PWER) shot up at 8:35 AM EST from $9.96 to $11.73, an increase of 17.77%.  This pre-market movement came following an announcement that the company had a second quarter revenue of  $215 million and profits of 17 cents a share, beating the Street consensus of $185.7 million in revenue and profits of 10 cents a share.  The company has also projected impressive third quarter earnings.  These numbers come during a 52-week range of $1.19 â€" $10.28.

The company traded 95,505 shares this morning, compared with the daily average 2,769,270.

Power-One, Inc. design and sell power management solutions for renewable energy, communications infrastructure, and other high technology markets.

-Michael B. Sauter

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Thursday, July 29, 2010

10X Volume Alert in Crown Media (CRWN)

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Crown Media Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ: CRWN) is listed under ticker “CRWNE” under some quote systems because of the recapitalization that was completed at the end of June.  The stock happens to be the largest percentage gainer today with a 51.7% price gain at a price of $2.70.  The price hit a high earlier today of $2.93 and the new adjusted 52-week range is $1.19 to $2.93.  At 1:10 PM EST there have been some 350,000 shares traded versus an average daily volume of only about 35,000 shares.

A 52-week high on a 10X volume alert is hard to ignore even for a $2 or $3 stock… This is the owner of cable TV stations and currently owns and operates The Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel in the U.S. to 86 million subscribers.  The distribution is via a network of over 5,300 cable systems, communities, and satellite services.

When the company announced on June 29 its recapitalization completion, it noted the following data:
“The Recapitalization transactions include, among other things, approximately $1.162 billion of amounts due to Hallmark Cards and its affiliates being restructured into $315.0 million principal amount of new debt instruments with maturities of December 31, 2013, $185.0 million liquidation preference of convertible preferred stock of the Company, Class B Common Stock being converted into Class A Common Stock with Class A Common Stock becoming the only authorized and outstanding common stock of the Company, and 254,887,860 shares of Class A Common Stock of the Company.”

It further noted:
“Other aspects of the Recapitalization include a Credit Agreement for the new debt, an amendment to the Tax Sharing Agreement with Hallmark Cards, a registration rights agreement, an increase in the authorized Class A Common Stock to 500,000,000 shares and a decrease in the authorized preferred stock to 1,000,000 shares, mergers of two intermediate holding companies with and into the Company and a stockholders’ agreement pursuant to which certain Hallmark entities agree not to acquire, through December 31, 2013, additional shares of Class A Common Stock of the Company, subject to certain exceptions, and agree to certain restrictions on their ability to sell or transfer shares of Class A Common Stock of the Company until December 31, 2013 and, subject to lesser restrictions, until December 31, 2020. Concurrent with the closing of the Recapitalization transaction, the Company has also amended its credit facility with JP Morgan Chase Bank to continue a $30 million revolving credit facility through June 30, 2011, which will provide additional short-term liquidity to the Company.”

The company has also recently noted that the CFO, Brian Stewart, has resigned with an effective date of August 20, 2010.  That is after the scheduled August 12 earnings report date.

The last time this one traded this many shares was on June 25, back when the stock traded 451,600 shares, with a $1.71 close.  The last time this was above $2.00 was in April and March 2010 when the highs were $2.01 and $2.06 respectively.  This one was above $3.00 back in May 2009 and above $5.00 in October 2008.

JON C. OGG

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Turn For Symantec In Pre-Market Trading Following Q1 Performance

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Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) has fallen behind earnings after announcing Q1 profits of $0.20 per share compared to a market expectation of $0.35 per share.  At 8:35 AM EST Symantec was down 9.75% from $14.67 to $13.24 and has traded 241,310 shares, compared with the daily average of 15,290,500, making it one of the greatest losers with regards to both volume and percentage in today’s pre-market trading.  This comes during a 52-week range of $13.58 â€" $19.16.  Shares are currently trading below both the 50-day and 200-day price averages.

This downturn comes amidst rising concern over competitive threats to Symantec’s primary business, which is software security.

-Michael B. Sauter

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Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Exponential Volume Alert in California Pizza Kitchen (CPKI)

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California Pizza Kitchen Inc. (NASDAQ: CPKI) has traded nearly 3-times normal volume today and it is not even NOON EST yet.  Reports are out that it is close to a deal to be acquired by a private equity firm, although this remains a rumor at this point.  The pizza and food chain has been on the market for a while, but the stock is up 9.3% at $18.34 on over 966,000 shares at 11:54 PM EST.

The 52-week range is $12.29 to $22.92 and the average volume here was only about 320,000 shares.

Something may be brewing, and the $447 million market cap today against Thomson Reuters revenue estimates of $641.36 million for 2010 and $675.28 million for 2011 would certainly not put the firm out of the scope of private equity even when credit is harder to come by.

JON C. OGG

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DJSP Faces Premarket Woes

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DJSP Enterprises, Inc. decreased dramatically this morning in premarket trading with regards to percentage. At 8:35 AM EST the company was down from $4.78 to $4, a change of 16.32%.  This follows Tuesday’s announcement that that company had completed its acquisition of Timios, Inc., a move which DJSP CEO David Stern refers to as, “a significant step forward in [DJSP's] quest to become the leading cyclical provider of products and services to the mortgage and real estate industries.”

This drop comes during a 52-week trading range of $4.66 - $13.65.  The company’s average daily volume is 274,880.

DJSP Enterprises, Inc. provides both non-legal and legal-related real estate services throughout the United States.  They are based in Plantation, FL.

-Michael B. Sauter

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Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Rambus Moves In Premarket After Winning Patent Fight

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Rambus, Inc. (NASDAQ: RMBS) made significant moves this morning after winning a lengthy legal battle, for the time being, concerning patent infringement with Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA).  At 8:35 AM EST Rambus was up 10.52% from $19.59 to $21.65 and had traded 73,598 shares, which is approximately 3.25% of average volume for market trading.  This movement comes in the middle of a 52-week trading range of $15.21 - $26.00.

Rambus, Inc. designs and develops chips used in digital electronics products.  Nvidia, a graphic chip maker, has been ordered to halt the import of patent-infringing chips, however, the company plans to appeal the decision.

-Michael B. Sauter

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Monday, July 26, 2010

Elevated Trading in Rambus Options (RMBS)

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Is Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ: RMBS) going to see a resolution to its never-ending patent case sooner than many of us expect?  Options trading is elevated today, and mostly in the Call options rather than the Put options.  Almost all of the activity is in the AUG-2010 Calls as well, at least two to one in favor of the Calls as of 2:00 PM.  There has also been no rolling out on dates that has been seen.

Below is the trading activity we have seen:

As far as the stock volume rather than options volume, shares are up 4.2% at $19.79 on just over 2.3 million shares.  That volume is just now reaching an average day’s trading volume in the stock and the 52-week range is $15.21 to $26.00.

Usually the call options trade around 2,000 contracts on a light day and closer to 5,000 on a normal day.  This implies that more focus is being put in the options arena than the stock arena today.

JON C. OGG

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Major Options Alert in US Airways (LCC)

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US Airways Group, Inc. (NYSE: LCC) is the airline nobody wants, or so it seems, when it comes to an airline merger.  What if that notion is wrong?  US Airways shares are at $10.68 and the 52-week range is $2.25 to $10.87.  Exponential gains were available for those who took a stab and held on.  The stock was under $6.00 as recently as February.  There was a very unusual options alert that came off this morning in US Air’s stock via the AUG-2010 CALLS:

CALL$    Volume    OpInt
$9.00    4,447    17,288
$10.00    18,581    23,271
$12.00    34,183    859

What appears to have happened is that a trader locked in significant gains in the $10 strike call options for August.  The $9.00 calls may have been a part, but we did not see those as active until right before posting this notion.

A trader appears to have locked in major upside gains at more than $1.00 and rolled some of the profit proceeds into the higher $12.00 strike call options to keep some potential upside of US Air’s shares keep running.

Despite no major negative earnings reports from the major money center and super-regional banks in America, the Q2-2010 reports seen so far in this July’s earnings season has brought a mixed fanfare for the major US banking giants.

Generally speaking this is not a new speculation trade, but it can be indicative that a bullish trader still has some hope of a deal or further positive development.  Locking in gains and pressing part of the bet to stay positive (as we have just seen)  is still a better indication that taking the money off the table entirely.

JON C. OGG

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Genzyme Active On Continued Buyout Rumors (GENZ)

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Genzyme Corp. (NASDAQ: GENZ) has made early gains as more rumors about the company and its potential buyers continues to surface. Shortly after the market closed friday, Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) approached the biotech company with the explicit intention of considering purchase. GENZ is up 5.57% to $66 at 8:04 AM EDT. At that time the stock had traded 114 thousand shares volume with an average volume of 3.8 million.

Sanofi-Aventis is not the only Biotech company which has been speculated to have interest in Genzyme. GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) are also considered potential suitors.

-Michael B. Sauter

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Friday, July 23, 2010

ARM Holdings Set To Hit 52-Week High After Microsoft Licenses Technology (ARMH)

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ARM Holdings plc (NASDAQ: ARMH) made premarket gains in excess of 10% after long-time partner Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) signed a license agreement to utilize the company’s ARM® architecture as a multifunction technology in their business. at 8:25 AM EDT, ARMH is up 10.56% to $1.52 on only 46 thousand shares volume (2.9 million average volume). With a 52-week range of $5.91 to $14.98, ARM is set to hit a 52-week high this morning as the microprocessor intellectual property continues its almost uninterrupted rise for the past two years.

ARMH’s ARM® Arcitecture is used in more that a billion mobile devices worldwide.

-Michael B. Sauter

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Thursday, July 22, 2010

Mellanox Loses Ground in Pre-Market Trading (MLNX)

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Mellanox Technologies, Ltd. (NASDAQ: MLNX)  is down $4.24 (18.48%) at 8:35 AM EST to $18.70 and has already traded 95,265 shares.  This comes in the middle of the 52-week trading range of $12.90 to $27.48.  Mellanox features a market cap of $769.52 million.

This drop comes as a bit of a surprise considering the fact that Mellanox, a fabless semiconductor based out of Israel, announced yesterday record revenue in its fiscal second quarter 2010.  Nevertheless, stocks have been down throughout this week.

-Michael B. Sauter

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Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Global Cash Access Death Spiral Volume Alert (GCA)

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Global Cash Access Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: GCA) is seeing a true death spiral.  An SEC filing shows that Harrah’s is not renewing its contract that expires at the end of November 2010. Harrah’s, by the way, happens to be GCA’s best customer.  At 10:30 AM EST shares were down 37% at $4.30 on almost 5 million shares.  There is an intra-day low print listed at $3.46, but that appears to be a market order that may have been well under the bid-ask at the time.  The stock opened at $6.51, so it has been a brutal day.

GCA’s market cap is now just under $290 million and the new 52-week trading range is $3.46 to $9.26.  The average volume here is only about 300,000 shares.

No stock options appear available in Global Cash Access.

Michael B. Sauter

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Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Top After-Hours Movers & Reactions (AAPL, BP, APA, CYT, GILD, SHLD, YHOO, VMW)

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Many shares are moving in the after-hours trading session.  Most are earnings as earnings season is in full swing, but some are not tied to earnings at all.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) closed at $251.89 and shares are up 2.9% at $259.14 on more than 4.57 million shares as of 5:05 PM EST.  SUMMARY

BP plc (NYSE: BP) and Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA) are on the move in after-hours trading.  BP is selling $7 billion in assets in the U.S., Canada, and Egypt to Apache to help pay for the Gulf of Mexico clean-up.  Apache Corp To Advance $5B To BP On July 30.  At 5;10 PM EST BP is up 1.25% at $35.64 on 665,000 shares in the after-hours session; Apache is down 2.8% at $85.77 and has traded 265,000 shares in the after-hours session.

Cytec Industries Inc. (NYSE: CYT) rose after record earnings of $1.24 EPS vs. $0.67 from Thomson Reuters consensus; It also raised guidance to $3.20 to $3.50 EPS from a prior range of $1.90 to $2.40 EPS for 2010.  Shares are up over 12% at $48.20 on about 34,000 shares as of 5:05 PM EST.

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) is off lows after cutting its 2010 product sales guidance after earnings today.  Still, at 5:05 PM EST shares are down 3.03% at $32.00 on 375,000 shares since the close.

Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD) should be the “FAKE” after-hours alert.  There was either a clean-up trade that was not reported properly in time or a day traders and market maker have a beef over a print… Shares rose 4.5% to $64.80 in regular trading and a print of $60.95 for 8.685 shares at 4:51 PM EST has shares down by a mistaken amount considering the 5:05 PM EST bid-ask is much higher.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) closed at $15.20 before earnings and the reaction of light revenues has shares lower by 6.25% at $14.25 on more than 3.5 million shares as of 5:Z05 PM EST. SUMMARY

VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW) is running up after earnings and after raising 2010 guidance.  Shares are up 5.1% at $76.15 on over 600,000 shares as of 5:05 PM EST. SUMMARY

JON C. OGG

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Friday, July 16, 2010

80X VOLUME ALERT: VocalTec Wins on MagicJack (VOCL, CALL)

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VocalTec Communications Ltd. (NASDAQ: VOCL) just became the biggest stealth stock in quite some time.  It almost feels like a SPAC because of the news. VocalTec and YMAX Corp., the creator of magicJack, have successfully merged and will be traded on the NASDAQ under the symbol “CALL” on Monday, July 16, 2010.

VocalTec expects to have revenues ranging from $110 million to $125 million this year. With over $40 million cash/securities on hand and no debt, VocalTec expects to show a profit in the current quarter.  The stock will also effect a 1-for-5 reverse stock split.

VocalTec was under a $10 million market cap company before the deal.  Now shares are up 155% at $3.37.  We have also seen over 800,000 shares trade hands with 20 minutes to go to the close, so it has seen 80-times normal volume.

JON C. OGG

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Monday, July 12, 2010

The Alcoa Indicator: Majors Rise in After-Hours (BA, CAT, CENX, F, GE, TIE, X)

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Alcoa, Inc. is a stock that many investors and traders try to use as a proxy for earnings season for other major companies.  Of the companies which are large end-users of the metal (hence Alcoa’s comments about rising demand), we are watching Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA), Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT), Century Aluminum Co. (NASDAQ: CENX), Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE), Titanium Metals Corporation (NYSE: TIE), and United States Steel Corp. (NYSE: X).  Of course not all of these are directly tied to Alcoa as far as the company itself, but the tie should be fairly evident.

The issue that always comes up for debate is that Alcoa is often a coincidental indicator rather than a leading indicator stock.  It is rare that things would be great or improving for Alcoa without the rest of the biggest companies following suit, but the rest of the universe can still be strong or holding up even if Alcoa is not scoring large gains.

Here are the after-hours reactions from the key DJIA components which would be loosely tied:

  • Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) up 0.7% at $64.34
  • Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) up 0.5% at $64.61
  • Century Aluminum Co. (NASDAQ: CENX) up 3.75% at $9.95
  • Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) up 1% at $11.21
  • General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) up 1%at $15.08
  • Titanium Metals Corporation (NYSE: TIE) up 1.7% at $19.44
  • United States Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) up 1.35% at $42.07

JON C. OGG

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Ahead of Alcoa Earnings: Speculators Mount Options Assault (AA)

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Alcoa, Inc. (NYSE: AA) is to be the first of the 30 Dow Jones Industrial Average components reporting earnings this earnings season with results due after the close today.  Right after 2:05 PM EST we have shares trading down 0.7% at $10.87 on almost 26 million shares.  The real move is in the speculative options trading, and we’d be looking for those speculative CALLS to be bought even more going into the close when the intraday price trading risk becomes less and less in the stock.

The July options expire this Friday, and the following is what we have seen per speculative strike price along with the volume and open interest:

  • 11.00 at $0.28: 14,371 traded vs. 26,091 open interest
  • 12.00 at $0.06: 4,416 traded vs. 38,455 open interest
  • 13.00 at $0.03: 1,458 traded vs. 41,860 open interest

The 52-week trading range is $9.04 to $17.60, and earnings estimates have come in sharply since the last pre-earnings.  The Thomson Reuters estimates for today are now ‘only’ $0.12 EPS.  The estimates were up at $0.23 EPS about 3-months ago.

After the sell-off we have seen in shares, from $14 to $10 before the latest week’s recovery, today’s stock options do not look too overpriced in a manner which would keep speculators on the sidelines.

JON C. OGG

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Sunday, July 11, 2010

VIVUS Options Signaling Huge Move (VVUS)

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VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQL VVUS) shares closed up strong on the week with a 21% gain despite a somewhat soft move Friday.  An analyst call from Wedbush and a downgrade the following day ahead of the FDA review next week.  The difference is that Wedbush believes the stock is a potential double.  The biggest action is actually not even in the stock.  The stock options activity speaks wonders.  See below, with the call and put strike prices, the price, and the contracts traded versus the open interest:

CALL$        Contracts    O.I.
10.00 at $3.90   925    16,989
11.00 at $3.40     1,071    8,851
12.00 at $2.70     4,884    10,380
13.00 at $2.20   2,577    14,644
14.00 at $1.80   1,946    5,394
15.00 at $1.35     3,884    15,931
16.00 at $1.00     2,333    7,662
17.50 at $0.70   3,189    12,737
20.00 at $0.30     7,060    13,181
PUTS$       Contracts    O.I.
5.00 at $0.35     3,813    22,222
6.00 at $0.65    13,759    3,509
7.00 at $1.10     6,738    22,675
8.00 at $1.50      2,882    6,619
9.00 at $1.90     5,388    15,316
10.00 at $2.45     2,389    10,105
11.00 at $2.90     599    3,166
12.00 at $3.30     1,478    869

Making a synthetic speculative straddle with the $12 CALLS and the $11 PUTS for July shows just how expensive it is and how much of a move there could be depending upon the FDA panel review.

That synthetic speculative straddle would cost $5.60, meaning the stock would have to go under $5.40 or above $17.60… In short, the stock is apt to see a hell of a move this week.

JON C. OGG

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Thursday, July 8, 2010

Allos Sees Options Alert (ATH)

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Allos Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALTH) saw a rather unusual options trade today, and the move has not been mirrored nor echoed at all by the raw trading of the common stock.

Joe Kunkle of OptionsHawk.com just noted to us:

  • “Alert with a buyer of 2,000 August $7.50/$5 put spreads for $1.85, a few days after the long term uptrend going back to 2006 was broken.  The Company received EU Orphan Status for its experimental cancer drug for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma back in June, but is in early stage trials.  The FDA also gave it orphan drug status for its bladder cancer drug in May.  Put volume is 12X average on the bear spread.  With many of its trials in early stages shares are falling out of favor with impatient investors despite the promising results, it could be susceptible to a capital raising at this pace.”

What is interesting is that 2,000 contracts is a bet of 200,000 shares if you count it on a fully leveraged basis.  We have so far only seen 303,000 shares trade hands by 1:23 PM EST today and the average volume is over 1.1 million shares.

When you see moves like this, it is generally a lone trade.  Whether or not it gets followed depends upon many factors.

Allos shares are actually up 1.8% at $5.65 on the day, and the 52-week range is $4.97 to $8.79.

JON C. OGG

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Wednesday, July 7, 2010

LeBron James Trade: Options Alert in Madison Square Garden (MSG)

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Will basketball great LeBron James stay in Cleveland, or will he go packing for more money?  Personally, I could care less.  If you can imagine that a basketball player might be influencing a stock out there, imagine away.  Madison Square Garden, Inc. (NYSE: MSG) is fairly new as a stock because of the spin-off.  Its MSG Sports consists of the NBA’s New York Knicks, the NHL’s New York Rangers, the WNBA’s New York Liberty, and the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack.  The Knicks… one of LeBron’s potential or speculated destinations now that he is free to look elsewhere beyond Cleveland.

Options speculators are out in MSG today:

  • JULY-2010 $22.50 CALLS have seen 6,500 contracts trade, versus an open interest of only 1,931 contracts.  There is elevated PUT volume as well as the JULY-2010 $20.00 PUTS have traded 3,113 contracts versus a mere open interest of 248 contracts.

UPDATE at 3:50 PM EST: JULY $20.00 CALLS have traded 1,895 contracts versus 831 open interest; JULY $22.50 CALLS have traded 8,989 contracts; JULY $20 PUTS have traded 3,937 contracts.

It seems that if there is a way to speculate, options traders always have their hands in it.

Madison Square Garden shares has also seen about twice-normal trading volume today against its 311,000 shares on average: shares are up 1.5% at $20.58 on over 600,000 shares with just over an hour until the closing bell.

Joe Kunkle of OptionsHawk.com said: “There is  bullish bias with the front month volatility skew betting on Lebron to the Knicks, but the largest trade bought 2000 July 22.5/20 strangles, just betting on a volatile reaction in shares to the news.  Multiple celebrities on Twitter, including Ocho Cinco are hinting at Lebron to the Knicks.”

Sometimes you hear the stock market being referred to as the same as gambling.  This is one of those examples.

JON C. OGG


Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Frontier Volume Shocks (FTR)

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Frontier Communications Corporation (NYSE: FTR) is still on the most actives list for Volume Spike investors.  We have a 200% volume alert for a full trading day, yet there are not even two hours of trading since the market opened at 9:30 AM EST.  This looks huge but is actually lower than the last two days.  The problem is that today’s volume is light when you consider how much traded last week on what was otherwise a rather quiet trading period:

  • JULY 2… 49,167,100 shares; $7.35 close.
  • JULY 1… 30,407,200 shares; $7.69 close.
  • JUNE 30… 12,362,300 shares; $7.11 close.

At 11:24 AM EST, FTR is down 2.45% at $7.17 on 17.7 million shares.  The 52-week range is $6.43 to $8.57 and the average trading volume is almost 6.4 million shares.

Just last week, the company closed on its $5.3 billion acquisition of phone lines in 14 states belonging to Verizon.

JON C. OGG