Today’s tickers: IMAX, AMZN, HAL & MU
IMAX – IMAX Corp. – Call options on the entertainment technology company are in demand this morning after shares in IMAX jumped 9.1% roughly 40 minutes into the trading session to an intraday high of $17.63. The sizable move in the price of the underlying coupled with increased trading in IMAX options lifted the stock’s reading of implied volatility 10.3% to 82.95% by 11:05 am ET. The sharp rise in shares and volatility are a boon to investors who appear to have purchased September contract calls on the stock on Friday. Open interest in the Sept. $20 strike call suggest some 1,400 contracts were picked up at an average premium of $0.25 apiece during the final trading session last week. Investors long the calls at $0.25 per contract now hold contracts that have more than doubled in value over the weekend. Traders eyeing the Sept. $20 strike calls this morning exchanged more than 3,800 of the options, exceeding the 2,116 previously existing positions at that strike. It looks like investors purchased around 2,700 of the calls this morning for an average premium of $0.40 each. Call buyers profit if shares in IMAX Corp. jump 15.7% over today’s high of $17.63 to surpass the average breakeven price of $20.40 at expiration in a couple of weeks. The September $20 strike call currently commands an asking price of $0.75 per contract as of 11:15 am in New York.
AMZN – Amazon.com, Inc. – Shares in online retail giant Amazon.com gained 2.8% to $204.76 this morning, but call buyers in the front month are positioning for far more substantial gains in the price of the underlying come September expiration. Call options on AMZN are trading roughly 1.7 times for each single put option in action today, with…
