BBRY – BlackBerry Ltd. – Shares in BlackBerry are moving higher today, up as much as 7.3% during the first half of the session to touch $7.75, the highest level since November 1st. Today’s gains add to the strong rally in BBRY shares seen on Friday on the heels of comments from the company’s interim CEO, John Chen. Currently trading at $7.64 on the day, the stock is up 40% since touching down at a record low of $5.44 on December 10th.
Upwards of 100,000 contracts have changed hands on BlackBerry as of 12:30 p.m. EST on Monday, which is around the total options volume the stock sees on average each day. Trading in BBRY calls is outpacing that of puts, with the call/put ratio hovering near 3.0 as of the time of this writing. Trading in far out of the money put options expiring in March, however, indicates some traders are prepared for the rebound in the price of the underlying to potentially reverse course during the next few months. It looks like traders snapped up around 2,500 of the Mar ’14 $4.0 strike puts at a premium of $0.08 each. The contracts may be profitable at expiration if shares in BlackBerry plunge roughly 50% from the current price of $7.64 to breach the breakeven point on the downside at $3.92.
KORS – Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. – Options on Michael Kors are more active than usual today, with volume above 12,000 contracts as of 11:30 a.m. EST versus the stock’s average daily options volume of around 7,800 contracts. Shares in the retailer fell 5.1% to $79.59 during morning trading on cautious comments regarding holiday sales from an analyst at Wedbush Securities, which has an ‘Outperform’ rating on Kors and a target price of $84.00 on the stock.
Trading in KORS weekly call and put options this morning suggests one trader is positioning for the price of the underlying to remain volatile this week. It looks like one strategist purchased a 300-lot 27 Dec ’13 $80 straddle for a net premium of $2.20 each. The position makes money if shares in the retailer rally above the upper breakeven price of $82.20 or below the lower breakeven point at $77.80 by expiration this week.
