Big prints in at-the-money call options on Office Depot suggests one large options market participant may be positioning for shares in the office supplies retailer to continue its move to the upside during the next year and a half to expiration. ODP shares are currently up less than 1.0% with less than 30 minutes remaining in the trading session to stand at $5.04.
The most traded options contracts on the stock today were the Jan’16 $5.0 strike calls, with upwards of 16,000 contracts traded against open interest of fewer than 1,300 positions. Time and sales data suggests the bulk of the volume traded during the first hour of the session at an average premium of $1.275 each. The contracts appear to have been purchased outright, though there’s no telling whether or not the trader has an established position in the underlying shares. The calls make money at expiration in the event that shares in ODP rally 25% over the current price to exceed the breakeven point at $6.275. Shares in Office Depot are up more than 30% since mid-April, having bounced off a six-month low of $3.84 reached April 16th. The shares sprinted higher earlier in the week after the company reported first-quarter earnings on Tuesday, raised its profit forecast for the full year and announced it plans to close at least 400 U.S. locations.
