Options volume on Sprint jumped a little less than one hour into the trading session on Thursday after a large three-legged strategy was initiated in the May expiry calls. The call butterfly spread purchased on the wireless carrier this morning looks for shares in Sprint to rise substantially from the current level by expiration in seven weeks. Shares in the name are up 4.5% at $9.37 as of 11:00 a.m. ET.
It looks like one strategist purchased 20,000 calls at both the May $10 and $12 strikes for a combined premium of $0.60 per contract and sold 40,000 of the May $11 strike calls at a premium of $0.24 apiece, effectively reducing the net cost of the spread to $0.12 per contract. The sizable bullish trade reaps maximum potential gains of $0.88 per contract in the event that shares in Sprint rally 17% over the current price of $9.37 to settle at $11.00 at May expiration. The breakeven points of $10.12 and $11.88 indicate the position is profitable within those bounds, while outside of those levels losses on the position are capped at $0.12 per contract, or the premium paid to initiate the butterfly spread. Shares in Sprint last traded around $11.00 at the end of December when the stock hit $11.48, the highest since SoftBank Corp.’s takeover of the wireless carrier last summer.
