Today’s tickers: CTXS, XOP & HL
CTXS – Citrix Systems, Inc. – Shares in Citrix Systems, Inc. rallied to their highest level since the end of July after the company reported third-quarter earnings and fourth-quarter estimates that beat expectations. The stock currently trades 15.2% higher on the session at $73.99, after soaring as much as 21.5% to an intraday high of $78.00. Huge gains in the price of the software maker’s shares appears to have worked out nicely for one options player who may be taking profits off the table today. Citrix call activity spiked in the first 30 minutes of the session after large numbers of deep in-the-money and out-of-the-money calls changed hands in the November contract. It looks like the investor may have snapped up around 4,875 calls at the Nov. $65 strike for a premium of $4.10 each back on October 18, when shares in Citrix closed the day at $64.50. The massive rally in the price of the underlying stock today more than doubled premium required to purchase Nov. $65 call options. The investor appears to have sold the batch of calls purchased on Oct. 18 this morning for an average premium of $11.07 per contract. Average net profits on the sale amount to $6.97 per contract. Finally, the sale of the call options was tied to the opening purchase of roughly 4,800 Nov. $75 strike calls for an average premium of $3.93 apiece. The fresh bullish stance may be profitable if shares in Citrix Systems extend gains through expiration next month. Profits are available on the new position if shares in CTXS increase another 6.6% over the current price of $73.99 to surpass the average breakeven point at $78.93 at expiration day. Options implied volatility on the stock fell 19.3% to a two-month low of 45.35% this afternoon.
XOP – SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF – The buyer of a large batch of put options on the XOP may have cut his losses this morning on the heels of a more than 8.0% rally in the price of the underlying since the bearish position was initiated. Shares in the XOP, an exchange-traded fund that tracks the performance of an index derived from the oil and gas exploration and production segment of a U.S. total market composite index, are up 4.9% today at $55.85 just before 1:00 pm EDT. On Tuesday, options volume at the Nov….
