Today’s tickers: NOK, DG, ESV & OREX
NOK – Nokia Corp. – When Nokia yesterday announced that it was no longer meaningful to offer a forecast into its murky future, investors abandoned the stock driving it into new lower territory. We noticed frenzied options activity as investors reaped what premium they could from fast-falling call options. The dire nature of Nokia’s warning has left option traders with little doubt that its shares will flounder further in coming weeks. Bearish option traders wrote off at-the-money $7.00 call options expiring in just three weeks’ time for just 20 cents each. The question facing option bears seems to be not whether the shares will rebound but how far they will sink in the days ahead. On Wednesday the picture weakened with shares sliding by a further 7% to $6.50 while it appears that call options are once again being sold, but this time at lower strikes. Investors appeared to turn their attention to the $6.00 strike where volume of 3,000 built by mid-morning. Open interest of a mere 300 lots confirms that new positions are being taken. We saw at least 1,000 contracts clear the prevailing 59-cent bid on our screens. Sellers also decimated the premium available on July $7.00 strike calls with some 9,000 contract being traded Wednesday where premiums have halved to just 18-cents on the day. Investors seem convinced that Nokia’s fortunes look dire.
DG – Dollar General Corp. – The discount retailer missed Wall Street’s expectation for earnings when it reported its first quarter data of 48 cents. The Street was hoping for 50 cents. The seller of all-fine-things-for-less-than-$10 said it took losses on certain slow-to-clear items and said that shoppers were constrained by rising gas prices. It nevertheless stood by its full year estimate and continues to revise store…
