Trader makes bullish bet before earnings on Wednesday. Shares ofFacebook (FB) may rally on Wednesday after it reports earnings. On Monday over 29,400 contracts traded on a July 26th call option on the social media giant. With a strike price of $227.50 and with shares around $200, it’s a bet that shares will move up in the coming four days. Shares would need to move 13.5 percent higher for the trade to move in-the-money.   With the option trading around $0.32, or $32 per contract, this is a cheap bet on any earnings move higher Wednesday. And should earnings miss or the share p...

Deep-value investment firm adds to stake.Last week, Strategic Value Partners, LLC, already a 10% owner, added to its stake inChaparral Energy (CHAP). The fund bought 554,321 shares at a cost of just over $3.1 million. This follows on additional buys by the fund in recent weeks. Since April, the fund has seen its total holdings increase from 10.7 million shares to 13.1 million shares. Chaparral Energy engages in the acquisition, exploration, and production of onshore oil and natural gas properties primarily in the state of Oklahoma. Like other natural gas names right now, shares have stru...

Shares likely to move higher by double-digits before year-end. Shares ofBrookfield Asset Management (BAM) may be heading higher between now and December, based on a surge of the $55 call options there. On Thursday, over 3,250 of the calls traded against a prior open interest of 187, nearly a 17-fold surge in volume. With shares trading at $48.50 however, the options imply that shares are likely to move at least 13 percent higher between now and December expiration, 154 days away. As shares of Brookfield have never broken $50 in the past year, this is an unusual bet that shares will mo...

 Director adds to stake of energy exploration company. On Wednesday, director Bailey Peyton picked up another 3,000 shares ofUnit Corp (UNT), where he serves as a director. The stake cost $21,900 and increased his shares take to 74,652, an increase of 4.2 percent. This follows on buys made back in May by Peyton, as well as two other directors, at prices ranging from 28 to 38 percent higher than today. Unit Corporation engages in the exploration, acquisition, development and production of natural gas and oil properties in the United States, largely in Oklahoma and Texas, as we...

Bet on shares heading higher. Shares ofCloudera (CLDR) may be heading higher between now and February, based on a surge of the $5 call options there. On Thursday, over 8,200 of the calls traded against a prior open interest of 123—a 67-fold surge in volume. With shares trading at $5.50, the options are also about 10 percent in-the-money, meaning they should move penny-for-penny, less the decline in the time premium. Cloudera provides data analytic and management products, operating both a subscription and service-based systems. It provides data and storage solutions for private cloud ...

Major owner increases stake in regional bank.On Tuesday, James Filler bought just over 2,500 shares ofCentury Bancorp (CNBKA). He already owns more than 10 percent of shares. The buy, with a total purchase price of $219,000, increases his total position to 702,919 shares, and represents a 0.36 percent increase in his total holdings. Like many other insiders in recent days, Filler sees solid opportunities in companies where he already has a large stake. Century Bancorp is a bank holding company for Century Bank and Trust Company, a provider of banking products and services. The bank offer...

Bet on moderate decline by January.Shares ofShake Shack (SHAK) have been volatile over the years. At least one trader is betting on a big move in shares again—with a decline in mind. On Tuesday, over 934 contracts traded on the January 2020 $65.00 put options. With shares trading around $74.50, that’s a bet that shares will decline over 13 percent between now and January. Shake Shack currently operates 208 restaurants which it calls Shacks. The company sells burgers, hot dogs, fries, shakes, and related products. Share trade at a whopping 158 times earnings, and a still-outrageous 100 ti...

Major fund holder bumps up stake.On Monday, the Abdiel Qualified Master Fund bought 137,515 shares ofFastly, Inc. (FSLY). With a total cost of nearly $2.8 million, this represented a 3 percent increase in the fund’s stake. The fund, already an owner of more than 10 percent of the company’s shares, has over 4.78 million shares of Fastly in its portfolio. Fastly operates an edge cloud platform for processing, securing, and serving its customer’s applications. The edge cloud is a type of Infrastructure-as-a-Service that enables developers to work, secure, and deliver applications and other ...

Multiple options trades imply shares will decline again. Multiple bets are being made that shares ofTesla Motors (TSLA) will drop again in the coming weeks. On Monday, over 10,000 contracts traded on an August $60.00 put—a 75 percent discount from where shares trade around $240. Another large trade occurred on the October $215 put, which implies a 10 percent discount between now and October. The August put, trading at $0.04, or $4 per contract, is a very cheap bet likely to expire worthless. But if Tesla shares drop quickly at some point in the next 31 days, the option could get a lar...