F – Ford Motor Corp – Shares in the automaker rallied to a new 52-week high on Thursday, trading up as much as 2.8% to $18.01 in the early going after the company reported third-quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates and raised its guidance for the full year.
Some options traders appear to be positioning for shares in Ford Motor Co. to extend gains in the near term, snapping up cheap out of the money call options expiring one week from tomorrow. Upwards of 2,900 of the Nov 01 ’13 $18.5 strike calls changed hands during the first hour of the trading session against open interest of 966 contracts. Time and sales data suggests most of the volume was purchased at a premium of $0.05 each. Call buyers stand ready to profit at expiration next week in the event that Ford’s shares rally 3.0% over the morning’s fresh 52-week high of $18.01 to exceed the effective breakeven point at $18.55.
Overall options volume on Ford is running above average today, with roughly 104,000 contracts traded so far today as compared to the stock’s average daily options volume of around 71,500 contracts as of 11:10 a.m. ET.
