Paper Profits On Potbelly Puts

Investors in Potbelly Corp. (Ticker: PBPB) suffered a swift kick to the gut on Thursday with shares in the name plunging 25% to $10.95 after the company’s annual profit and quarterly revenue forecast came in lower than analysts’ estimates. U.S. stocks opened sharply lower, but are well off the lows of the session with the S&P 500 Index down roughly 0.30% at 1,967 as of 2:15 p.m. ET after earlier dipping to as low as 1,951.72 near the open.
Trading in Potbelly put options on Wednesday signaled at least one trader was bracing for sizable declines in the price of the underlying shares during the next few months. The most traded contracts on PBPB yesterday were the Oct 12.5 strike puts. All told, it looks like approximately 3,000 of the 12.5 strike puts were purchased yesterday afternoon for an average premium of $0.58 each. The move in the stock price since the bearish position was initiated pushed premium on the now in-the-money put options skyward. At last check premium required to purchase the Oct 12.5 strike put is hovering around $2.05 per contract.
The most traded contracts by volume on Potbelly today look for longer-term recovery in the price of the underlying stock. Approximately 1,000 of the Jan ’15 10.0 strike calls have traded against open interest of just 30 contracts. Time and sales data indicates most of the volume was purchased at a premium of $2.25 each. Buyers of the 10.0 strike calls may profit at expiration in the event that shares in PBPB rally 11% over the current price of $11.02 to exceed the breakeven price of $12.25 by January expiration.