ZNGA – Zynga Inc. – A narrower than expected third-quarter loss on higher than expected revenue reported by the social game developer on Thursday lifted shares in Zynga on Friday, with shares in the name rallying as much as 14% to a new 52-week high of $4.04.
Trading traffic in weekly calls on the maker of Farmville and other games suggests some options players are positioning for the price of the underling to extend gains next week. More than 9,000 calls have changed hands at the Nov 01 ’13 $4.0 strike as of 11:30 a.m. ET against open interest of 1,926 contracts, with much of the volume purchased in the early going at a premium of $0.19 each. Buyers of the $4.0 weekly call options on ZNGA stand ready to profit at expiration should shares in the San Francisco, California-based company rally another 3.7% to exceed the breakeven price of $4.19.
Overall options volume on the stock is well above average today, with roughly 72,500 contracts in play versus Zynga’s average daily options volume of around 29,000 contracts.
ELY – Callaway Golf Co. – Shares in the maker of golf equipment and apparel are soaring on Friday, up better than 14% to hit a new 52-week high of $8.32 after the company reported third-quarter results after the close on Thursday and raised its full-year revenue guidance. Callaway was raised to ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ with a 12-month target share price of $11.00 at DA Davidson following the quarterly earnings report.
Options traders who purchased upside calls on the stock prior to the company’s earnings release are enjoying sizable gains in the value of bullish positions. Yesterday, one or more traders snapped up more than 800 of the Nov $8.0 strike calls at premiums of $0.10 and $0.15 each. The sharp move in the price of the underlying today now finds the $8.0 strike calls trading at $0.40 each as of the time of this writing.
Today, it looks like traders are purchasing in-the-money call options on Callaway, buying roughly 760 of the Nov $7.0 strike calls at an average premium of $1.23 apiece during morning trading. Options players long the $7.0 strike calls stand ready to profit at expiration next month should shares in ELY settle above the average breakeven price of $8.23.
