Today’s tickers: EBAY, TXN & THC
EBAY - eBay, Inc. – Shares in the operator of online marketplaces kicked off the trading week in rally mode, rising more than 4.5% to $56.75 on Monday morning after the company’s 2015 forecasts at an investor day conference last week spurred a number of analyst upgrades and price target increases. The stock has gained more than 10% during the past two weeks. Short-dated bullish bets initiated on EBAY ahead of the long weekend are paying off for some options traders today. Open interest in the April 05 ’13 $55 strike weekly calls rose by more than 3,000 contracts on Thursday, with much of the volume purchased at an average premium of $0.045 apiece. Today the $55 strike calls are deep in-the-money and changing hands at roughly $1.60 each as of midday in New York. Traders who paid an average premium of $0.45 per contract last Thursday roughly tripled their money over the weekend. Meanwhile, trading traffic in weekly contracts this morning suggests options players are positioning for shares in the provider of online payment services to extend gains in the near term. Bullish traders snapped up more than 1,000 in-the-money calls at the April 05 ’13 $55 strike for an average premium of $1.70 each this morning, and picked up more than 1,000 calls at the higher April 05 ’13 $57.5 strike at an average premium of $0.36 apiece. Traders long the $57.5 strike call options may profit at expiration in the event that shares in eBay rally another 2.0% to top a new 52-week high and breakeven price of $57.86.
TXN - Texas Instruments, Inc. – A burst of put buying on semiconductor maker, Texas Instruments, on Monday morning suggests one or more traders are preparing for the price of the underlying to pullback in the near term. Shares in TXN are down 0.90% today at $35.16 as of 12:00 p.m. ET. The most actively traded contracts on Texas Instruments today are the April $35 strike puts, with volume in…
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