Today’s tickers: BZH, AG, TSN, XLF, XRT & JNPR
BZH Beazer Homes USA, Inc. – The builder of single-family homes across the United States has experienced an enormous share price rally of more than 21.5% to $2.14 following today’s upbeat new home sales data. BZH jumped onto our ‘hot by options volume’ market scanner after one investor established what appears to be a covered call in the June contract. The covered call was initiated by buying shares of the underlying stock and selling 10,000 calls at the June 5.0 strike price for a premium of 17 cents apiece. This investor receives the premium on the sale of the options as well as positions an exit strategy at the June 5.0 strike by maintaining a short position on the calls. If shares can rally through $5.00 come June, the shares will likely be called away from him at expiration. Should this come to fruition, he will have enjoyed gains of 134% on the stock from the current price of $2.14 in addition to the 17 cent premium.
AG AGCO Corporation – Shares of the manufacturer of agricultural equipment have skyrocketed by more than 10% to $26.00 ahead of its earnings release expected on Tuesday, April 28th. One news source has reported unconfirmed takeover speculation surrounding the company perhaps leading option traders to position themselves for a continued near-term price rally. The more than 16,000 lots that have exchanged hands on AGCO thus far today represent 70% of the existing open interest on the stock of 23,000 contracts. Furthermore, we have observed that nearly 12 call options have been traded to each single put option in action. At the now in-the-money May 25 strike price investors picked up 1,300 calls for an average premium of 1.71 apiece. More optimistic individuals targeted the May 30 strike price where more than 6,300 calls were purchased for 53 cents per contract. In order for the May 30 strike call to land in-the-money by expiration, shares would need to continue to rise by an additional 15% from the current share price. Option implied volatility is up slightly on the day from 71% to the current reading of 74%.
TSN Tyson Foods, Inc. – The processor and marketer of chicken, beef and pork products has attracted bullish investors to the pigpen amid a share price rally of about 1% to $11.15 today. Tyson’s shares have been on the rise since touching down…
