Today’s tickers: WEN, JNPR, VIX, CLX, BBY, AAPL & AXP

WEN – Despite the 2% decline in shares to $4.59 today, WEN was flooded by investors looking for bullish call options in the September contract. Approximately 9,000 calls were coveted by fans of the Frosty at the September 5.0 strike price for an average premium of 32 cents apiece. Investor’s long the calls are hoping the stock rises at least 16% through the breakeven point at $5.32 by expiration. The 10,861 option contracts exchanged on the stock today represents more than 66% of the existing open interest for WEN of 16,325 lots. We note that Wendy’s/Arby’s Group shares have not traded higher than $5.32 since April 29, 2009. – CBOE Volatility Index

JNPR – The network-equipment maker jumped onto our ‘most active by options volume’ market scanner today after a four-legged bullish trade was initiated in the near-term August contract. Shares of the firm are off by more than 2% today to stand at $25.27 perhaps on news that IBM plans to sell Juniper switches and routers under its own brand name. It appears that the investor responsible for the transaction is expecting JNPR to rebound as he was seen selling put options on the stock to fund the purchase of a call spread. The sale of 9,300 puts at the August 22 strike price for about 35 cents each, in combination with the sale of 9,300 puts at the lower August 21 strike for 25 cents apiece, yielded the trader a gross premium of 60 cents. The bullish investor then looked to the August 27 strike price where he purchased 9,300 calls for an average premium of 1.10 per contract spread against the sale of 9,300 calls at the higher August 30 strike for 25 cents each. The net cost of the call spread, after factoring in the sale of the put options, amounts to just 25 cents. Thus, the individual responsible for the transaction stands to bank maximum potential profits of 2.75 if shares of JNPR can rally up to $30.00 by expiration. The stock must rally higher by about 8% before the investor begins to accumulate profits starting at the breakeven share price of $27.25. – Juniper Networks, Inc.

VIX – Investors were found wading through molasses today helped by better earnings from Apple, but disappointed by financial companies, where the sector exemplified the view that it’s not plain sailing from here. The volatility…
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