February kicked off on a modestly positive note on Monday, with the major market indexes finishing largely in positive territory. Among the top ten most active stocks in the options pits were Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU). In response to the up session, the CBOE equity put/call volume ratio turned lower once again, slipping to a reading of 0.67.
Outside of our headline stocks, natural gas firm Markwest Energy Partners LP (NYSE:MWE) was hit with a flood of call activity on Monday as traders prepared for the company’s ex-dividend date taking place today. Overall, MWE saw nearly all of yesterday’s options volume (the table rounds up) trade on the call side in what appears to be various dividend capture strategies.
Apple Inc. (AAPL)
Apple stock maintained its perch at the top of the daily most active options listing for the sixth consecutive session on Monday. Nearly 70% of the 748,136 options contracts trading on AAPL crossed on the call side, with traders looking to take advantage of a continued post-earnings run higher for the security.
Technically, AAPL stock gapped higher following last week’s blowout quarterly report, but the shares have been unable to best overhead resistance at the $120 level — an area that rejected AAPL back in November. The stock has pulled its 10- and 50-day moving averages into a bullish cross, however, which is an encouraging technical indicator.
Heading into the open this morning, AAPL stock is trading flat to lower following news that raised $6.5 billion from a bond sale to fund share buybacks.
Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA)
The shares of Tesla Motors rallied more than 3.5% on Monday in the wake of a bullish analyst note from Global Equities Research, which hiked its price target on TSLA stock to $385. Options traders responded in kind, sending 95,693 contracts across the tape for TSLA, with 59% of those trading as calls.
The attention to call options represents a shift from TSLA stock options traders, as the stock had been a favorite among put traders. The negativity should come as no surprise to TSLA followers, however, as the shares have been beaten down by more than 18% since November. In pre-market trading, TSLA is up another 1.8%, with the stock looking to extend its rebound off technical support in the 200 area.
Micron Technology (MU)
Semiconductor firm Micron Technology got a 2.84% hair cut on Monday, as the shares once again tried and failed to overcome resistance in the 30 region. Year-to-date, MU stock is down nearly 20%, as growth and pricing concerns have combined with market headwinds to pressure the shares lower.
Despite the poor price action, options traders focused on MU stock calls on Monday, with the bullish contracts making up 66% of yesterday’s volume of 107,906 contracts. Overall, MU stock’s February/March put/call open interest ratio arrives at a seemingly bullish 0.74. However, even though this ratio hints at a preference for calls over puts, the reading has been higher 74% of the time in the past year.
As of this writing, Joseph Hargett did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
