Put buying suggests drop ahead.Over 2,600 contracts traded on the January $120 put options onThe 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 of various properties throughout the United States, seems like an unlikely candidate for a bearish trade. However, shares tra...

November put buying suggests further drop.The November 15th $8 put options onTeva Pharmaceutical (TEVA) saw over 17,000 contracts trade against a prior open interest of 243, indicating a 70-fold surge in volume on the trade. With shares of Teva around $7, the $8 puts are already $1 in-the-money and should move penny-for-penny with any further drop in shares. At a cost of $1.44, the option also has about a penny a day in time premium attached to it. Shares of Teva have slid by 68 percent in the past year, and the company has some liability stemming from opioid-related pharmaceutical produ...

Traders bet on a rally in shares this month.The October 19th $44.50 call options onFoot Locker (FL) saw nearly 2,000 contracts trade against a prior open interest of 147, for a 13-fold surge in volume. With shares trading around $42.70, shares need to rally at least 4 percent for the option to move in-the-money. The company next reports earnings in late November, so the move higher will have to occur without that particular catalyst. Shares of the mall-based retailer of athletic apparel have already started to move higher thanks to the strong earnings report from Nike last week, which co...

Major holder buys another 1.8 million shares.Hudson Executive Capital LP continues to buy massive blocks of shares atUSA Technologies (USAT). Following a recent buy, the company picked up another 1.8 million shares on September 26th, increasing their stake by 21 percent. The fund paid $8.2 million for the block of shares, and now owns over 10.1 million shares of the company. With a float of only 37 million shares, Hudson now owns over 27 percent of shares outstanding. The fund may be vying to buy up 50 percent of the company to assume control, either to take the company private, or to be...

Traders bullish on telecom in coming weeks.The October 18th $13.50 call options onCenturyLink (CTL) saw nearly 4,000 contracts trade, against a prior open interest of 360, an 11-fold surge in volume. With shares at $12.75, the option will trade in-the-money if shares rise 5.8 percent in the next 18 days. Given how shares have traded as high as $22 in the past year, the option stands a reasonable chance of heading higher in the next few weeks. With shares of the company trading under 10 times earnings and yielding over 7.7 percent following a 40 percent decline in the past year, the telec...

At-the-money puts suggest potential decline.The December 20th $10 put options onFreeport McMoRan (FCX) saw over 8,100 contracts trade, a 57-fold increase over the prior open interest of 143 contracts. With 84 days left to go, and with shares right at $10.00, the option should increase in value with any dollar-for-dollar drop in shares. With the option trading around $0.80, shares would need to only drop to $9.20 for the option holder to start making money on the trade. Freeport McMoRan has seen shares trade as high as $14 and as low as $8.50 in the past year. At the low, the option holde...

Bet on shares to move higher by spring.The March 2020 $34.00 call options onUber (UBER) saw over 10,100 contracts trade against a prior open interest of 391, a 35-fold surge in volume. The bet, with shares trading around $31, indicates that shares should move at least 9.6 percent higher in the next 176 days before the option expires. Shares of the recent IPO have traded as high as $47 per share, back in late June, about a month after going public. Since then, share prices have slid into the low $30 range, so the bet indicates at least some recovery in shares. As a nearly stage company, U...

Major fund holder adds to stake.Investment fund Hudson Executive Partners LP bought 143,200 shares ofUSA Technologies (USAT). Already a major holder with over 10 percent of shares, the $638,000 buy increases the fund’s holdings to over 8,339,170 shares. This is the second buy from the fund following the purchase of 1 million shares back in August, at prices 26 percent higher than where shares currently trade. Insiders have otherwise been holding their shares in the past two years. USA Technologies provides wireless networking, cashless transactions, asset monitoring and other services to...

Fund with major ownership adds to stake.Investment fund Elliott International bought 6,529 shares ofRoadrunner Transportation Systems (RRTS), shelling out over $64,000 to make the trade. A mere 0.3 percent increase in holdings, Elliott now owns over 23,227,100 shares, a stake worth more than 10 percent of the company. Elliott has been an active buyer of shares throughout the year, at prices as much as 25 percent higher than where shares currently trade. There has been only one insider sale this year, from a different fund. Roadrunner provides asset transportation and logistics services, ...

In-the-money call option suggests further gains for shares.The November 2019 $165 call options onNvidia (NVDA) saw over 3,300 contracts trade against a prior open interest of 281, making for a 12-fold increase in volume. With shares of the company currently trading at $180, the contracts are already $15 in-the-money. With the contract trading around $21, shares of the company need to rise at least another $6 for the call buyer to break-even on the trade before the option expires in 57 days. Nvidia, the graphics processing giant, has seen its shares decline 33 percent in the past year aga...