HPQ – Hewlett-Packard Co. – Shares in HP are down roughly 1.8% at $20.87 on Monday amid a down day for U.S. stocks, as the partial U.S. government shutdown extends into its second week.
Trading traffic in weekly put options on the maker of printers and PCs indicates one strategist is positioning for the price of the underlying to potentially drop to the lowest level since April by expiration. It looks like the trader purchased a 2,000 lot Oct 11 ’13 $19.5/$20.5 put spread for a net premium of $0.19 per contract. The bear put spread starts making money below a breakeven price of $20.31, and could generate maximum potential profits of $0.81 per contract in the event that HP’s shares drop 6.5% from the current price of $20.87 to settle at $19.50 at expiration.
Shares in Hewlett-Packard are down roughly 25% since the beginning of August. The company will hold the HP Securities Analyst Meeting 2013 on Wednesday starting at 8:00 a.m. PT.
