Shares in Sonic Corp. jumped 12% to $23.51, the highest level since December of 2007, on Tuesday morning after the drive-in restaurants chain reported second-quarter earnings that topped the average of analyst estimates by one penny. Options volume on the stock is above average levels, with around 1,500 contracts in play thus far in the session versus average daily options volume on Sonic of around 620 contracts. Trading in Sonic calls is outpacing that in puts, with the call/put ratio hovering near 2.8 as of 11:20 a.m. ET.
Trades initiated in Sonic options on Monday prior to the company’s Q2 earnings release suggests some trader may be able to sink their teeth into overnight profits. The largest rise in open interest across currently available SONC options series was in the 17Apr’14 22.5 strike calls, with the level of open interest ticking up by 580 contracts overnight. A review of time and sales data indicates most of those calls were likely purchased on Monday for an average premium of $0.35 each. The sharp rally in the price of the underlying to fresh multi-year highs pushed premium on the 22.5 calls up to as high as $1.35 each during the first half of the session today. The last traded price on the contracts stands at $1.00 with the stock off session highs as of 11:30 a.m. ET.
