Today’s tickers: RIMM, S & HPQ
RIMM - Research In Motion Limited – Shares in the troubled mobile phone maker rallied sharply Wednesday morning on comments from Jefferies & Co. analyst, Peter Misek, regarding the possibility that Samsung Electronics Co. is considering licensing Research In Motion’s new BB10 operating system or buying the company. RIMM is well off its highs of the session at present, up 4.9% at $7.67 as of 11:45 a.m. in New York, down from an initial 12.9% spike in the shares to an intraday high of $8.25. Traders flocked to RIMM options and drove the number of contracts traded to more than three times average daily volume. Heavy put buying in the weekly options suggests gains in the price of the underlying may be short lived. More than 25,000 in-the-money puts changed hands at the Aug. 10 ’12 $8.0 strike versus open interest of just 460 contracts. It looks like most of these put options were purchased in the first hour of the trading day for an average premium of $0.34 apiece. Put buyers profit at expiration this week in the event the Blackberry makers settle below the average breakeven price of $7.66.
S - Sprint Nextel Corp. – The third-largest U.S. wireless carrier’s shares have been on a tear in recent months, having nearly doubled since the end of May. Sizable prints in Sprint call options this morning suggest at least one trader is positioning for the price of the underlying to continue its run during the next few months. The stock today is up 5.0% to stand at $4.53 as of 12:20 p.m. in New York. The sale of a block of 11,129 Aug. $4.0 strike calls for a premium of $0.44 apiece spread against the purchase of a block of 11,148 calls at the Nov. $5.0 strike at a premium of $0.27 each may be the work of an investor rolling up a bullish position. A review of…
