Today’s tickers: SBUX, SYY, GS & ADS
SBUX – Starbucks Corp. – Shares in Starbucks reached their highest since the company’s 1992 IPO on Friday, following the release of better-than-anticipated third-quarter earnings from the Seattle, Washington-based coffee shop operator after the closing bell on Thursday. Starbucks Corp.’s shares earlier rose as much as 7.95% to an intraday high of $44.69. While SBUX shares may be high as a kite post-earnings, options traders appear to be coming down ahead of the weekend. Call selling and put buying in the November contract today may be a sign some strategists are taking profits, locking in gains or possibly positioning for shares to cool in the near term. Put players focused on the Nov. $41 strike, where more than 7,000 contracts changed hands against open interest of 3,279 positions. It looks like much of the volume was printed by buyers of the bearish options at an average premium of $0.44 apiece. Put buyers may profit at November expiration if shares in the world’s largest coffee-shop operator tumble 9.25% to breach the average breakeven price of $40.56. Another 1,500 put options appear to have been purchased at the lower Nov. $39 strike at an average premium of $0.17 a-pop. As for SBUX calls, selling was more prevalent than buying at each strike from the Nov. $42 strike call up through the Nov. $46 strike call. The Nov. $45 strike call is most active, with upwards of 3,600 contracts in play against 2,727 lots of open interest. It looks like investors sold around 1,600 of these calls to pocket premium of $0.59 each. Investors may be taking profits off the table or betting against the likelihood that SBUX shares will continue to hit fresh highs ahead of expiration in two weeks. Options implied volatility on Starbucks Corp. is lower by 9.5% to arrive at 34.6% following earnings.
SYY – Sysco Corp. – Though trading in Sysco Corp. options is mixed this morning, one aspect of the activity is consistent, investors are positioning for the price of the underlying to move following the company’s first-quarter earnings report ahead of the opening bell on Monday. Traders are snapping up both call and put options on the largest North American distributor of food in anticipation of near-term bullish or bearish movement in the price of the stock. Options implied volatility on the stock is running 22.4% higher on the day at 29.65% as…
