Trading Tips Blog

Call option buys indicate higher move ahead. A number of options plays on Analog Devices (ADI) occurred with unusual volume. The November 15th 2019 $115 calls saw over 4,500 contracts trade, a 40-fold surge in volume from the prior open interest of 113. With shares just under $113, shares need to move about $2 higher, or 1.8 percent, in the next 38 days for these options to move in-the-money. The expiration is right before the company next announces earnings in late November. The ...
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Major owner makes $1.4 million buy. Outerbridge Master Fund, a major holder in Barnes & Noble Education (BNED), picked up nearly 476,000 shares recently, increasing their holdings by over 8 percent. The buy also raised their total share count to 6,396,895 shares. At a price of $3.01, the purchase came to just over $1.4 million, and is the fund’s third buy in the past three weeks. Corporate insiders have both bought and sold shares year-to-date. However, the bulk of sales occurred from ...
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Chief quality officer makes $71,000 buy and fund adds 1.5 million shares. Bryan Ball, Chief Quality Officer at Immunomedics (IMMU), bought 5,000 shares, paying around $71,000 to do so. This doubles his stake, following a similarly-sized buy back in June. Besides insider buying by officers, a number of funds have been accumulating shares as well, including a 1.5 million share buy by Avoro Capital Advisors in early October. The fund now owns over 21 million shares, or about 11 percent of the ...
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60-fold surge in call-buying volume. With 8,900 contracts trading on the November 1st $29 call options on MGM Resorts International (MGM) saw a 60-fold surge in volume from its prior open interest of 150 contracts. With 25 days left to go, and with shares just over $27, the option trade will expire worthless unless shares rise to at least $29, or 7.4 percent. With the company reporting earnings the last week of October, shares could have a big enough bounce to move ...
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Director makes million-dollar buy. Director James Star of Chewy Inc (CHWY) bought 41,521 shares recently, increasing his stake by 83 percent. At a cost just under $24 per share, the buy came to $994,000. This is the second insider buy at the company since it went public from PetSmart back in June. Since the IPO, no insiders have sold shares, and the insider who did sell shares at the IPO was a fund, not a member of the corporate staff or ...
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Put buying suggests drop ahead. Over 2,600 contracts traded on the January $120 put options on The Howard Hughes Corporation (HHC), up from a volume of 100. That’s a 27-fold increase in volume, a very unusual move in a name that typically has little options activity. With shares at $126, shares need to drop nearly 5 percent for this option to move in-the-money. With 105 trading days to go, it’s a bet that could play out. The company, an owner, manager, and developer ...
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Major fund adds to stake. Crestview Partners, a fund with board seats and major ownership, added to their stake of WideOpenWest (WOW). The fund bought 18,120 shares, increasing their total stake to over 30,547,000 shares, at a cost of $108,000. Insiders such as the CEO and CFO have also been buyers of the company in the past two years, with most of that buying coming in recent weeks. Insiders have last sold shares of the company back in 2017. WideOpenWest provides cable, ...
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Bet on continued drop in shares. A number of bearish options trades were made against Ford Motors (F) recently, as the company reported lower-than-expected sales. Of all the options trades, the November 15th $8 puts saw the most action, with over 44,000 contracts trade, for a 63-fold surge in volume from a prior 700 contracts. That bet, expiring in about six weeks, will move in-the-money if shares drop just fifty cents, or about 6 percent from here. Ford announced that its auto ...
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