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...

Multiple insiders buy at beleaguered retailer.Dinesh Lathi, President and CEO ofTailored Brands (TLRD), bought 15,000 shares recently. So did director Theo Killion on the same day. Both paid around $4.60-$4.80, slightly above where shares now trade at $4.55. Both paid around $70,000 for that stake, and both increased their total ownership in the company by over 33 percent. Tailored Brands, owner of retailers Men’s Wearhouse and Joseph A. Bank, has seen shares drop 82 percent in the past year on slow sales. The company is also saddled with over $2 billion in debt, which, with the compa...

CEO, director add to insider buys this year. CEO Amit Kumar and director Lewis Titterton have been buyers atAnixa Biosciences (ANIX). The CEO bought 10,000 shares, increasing his holdings in the company by 6 percent, paying over $41,000. The director bought 15,000 shares, increasing his holdings by 2 percent, paying over $61,000. Insiders, including other directors at the firm, have been steady buyers at the company in the past year, with no insider sales in the past year. Insiders have bought near current prices, and as much as 9 percent higher than where shares trade. Anixa Biosc...

Bet on oil giant rallying more through Friday.Friday’s $41 call options onBritish Petroleum (BP) saw heavy trading as the oil market shot higher. With just three trading days until expiration, over 128,992 contracts of the option traded at an average price of $0.14. With an open interest of 3,500 contracts, this is a near-37-fold increase in volume on the trade. Shares of BP surged to $39 in trading, so the trade is a bet shares can move another $2, or about 5 percent higher. BP operates a worldwide energy business with oil and natural gas exploration, field development, and transportati...

Insiders make first buy in 14 months.Director William Albrecht recently added to his stake atHalliburton (HAL), with an 8,000 share buy. The purchase doubled his total stake to 16,000 shares, and cost over $154,000 to make the buy. This is the first insider buy at the company in 14 months, following a series of sales by insiders at prices anywhere from 28 to 49 percent higher than current prices. Halliburton provides various products and services to the oil and natural gas industry. Their products include well casing and cementing services, well completion and sand control products, pump...

Bet on railroad firm getting back to 52-week high.The February 2020 $77.50 call options onCSX Corp. (CSX) saw 2,000 contracts trade, an 18-fold increase over the prior open interest of 114. With shares of the company around $72.21, the option will trade in-the-money if shares rise at least 7.3 percent between now and February. With a price of $2.53 per contract on average, the call buyer will need to see shares trade closer to $80 to make a profit come expiration. As the company’s 52-week high is right at $80 per share, the option looks dicey. CSX operates rail-based freight transportati...

October put buying suggests shares will remain weak. The October 18th $12 put options onNew York Community Bancorp (NYCB) saw an unusual amount of trading volume with over 8,700 contracts trade against a prior open interest of 268, a 32-fold rise in volume. With shares around $13.30, the $12 put option will close in-the-money if shares fall more than 10 percent in the next few weeks, making a sizeable percentage decline. New York Community Bancorp is a regional bank headquartered in New York state, offering traditional banking services such as checking and savings accounts, mortgage a...