DAL – Delta Air Lines, Inc. – Shares in Delta are losing altitude on Friday, down 1.3% to $23.70 during the first half of the session.
A sizable call spread initiated on the stock this morning indicates one options market participant is positioning for the price of the underlying to rally sharply heading into the New Year. It looks like the strategist purchased a 5,000-lot Jan 2014 $27/$30 call spread for a net premium of $0.48 per contract. The position makes money if shares in DAL rally 16% over the current price of $23.70 to exceed the breakeven point at $27.48. Maximum potential profits of $2.52 per contract are available on the spread in the event that Delta’s shares jump more than 25% to hit $30.00 by expiration next year. Delta’s shares are up 160% since this time last year.
YHOO – Yahoo! Inc. – Weekly call options changing hands on Yahoo today look for shares in the Internet media company to extend gains during the next five trading sessions. Shares in the name are moving higher for a fourth straight day, having rallied 12% since the close on Monday to touch a multi-year high of $33.85 this morning.
Options traders positioning for the price of the underlying to continue moving higher next week appear to be buying Oct 04 ’13 expiry calls across multiple striking prices. The most traded Oct 04 ’13 contracts by volume are the $35 strike call options, with roughly 4,500 calls exchanged during the first two hours of the session against open interest of 395 contracts. Time and sales data suggests most of the volume was purchased for an average premium of $0.25 each. The weekly calls may be profitable at expiration if YHOO shares increase 4.0% over today’s high of $33.85 to exceed the breakeven point at $35.25.
