Today’s tickers: TIF, P & NYT
TIF – Tiffany & Co., Inc. – A surprise earnings miss and a reduced full-year profit and sales forecast from luxury jewelry retailer, Tiffany & Co., took some of the luster out of its shares today, with the stock trading down 8.5% at $56.55 as of 11:50 a.m. in New York. Options activity on Tiffany this morning suggests mixed sentiment on the stock going forward, with some strategists bracing for further declines in the price of the underlying, while others position for a rebound. Fresh interest building in the July $57.5 strike put, where more than 800 in-the-money contracts changed hands against open interest of 114 positions, appears mostly to be the work of buyers. Traders paid an average premium of $3.74 apiece for the put options and may profit at expiration in the event that Tiffany’s shares decline another 4.9% to settle beneath the effective breakeven price of $53.76. Meanwhile, a call spread in the August expiry looks for shares in the jeweler to post solid gains during the next few months. A 242-lot Aug. $57.5/$65 call spread purchased for an average premium of $2.50 per contract may result in maximum potential profits of $5.00 per contract should TIF’s shares soar 14.9% to top $65.00 by August expiration.
P – Pandora Media, Inc. – Shares in Pandora are moving sharply to the upside this morning after the provider of Internet radio reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings after the close of trading on Wednesday and an increase in target share price to $16.00 from $14.00 at JMP Securities. The stock rallied as much as 19.0% to $12.285 today, reaching their highest level since March, but trading in the January 2013 expiry puts suggests some strategists are securing disaster insurance on the stock. It looks like traders picked up 200 puts at the Jan. 2013 $4.0 strike for a premium of $0.25 apiece, perhaps under the expectation there could be catastrophic…
