Tuesday’s Vital Data: Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ), Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) and Facebook Inc (FB)

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Monday was a solid session for stocks, as the major market indices erased last week’s losses to finish roughly 1% higher across the board. The Nasdaq led the way, adding 1.27%, while the S&P 500 lagged with 0.99% gains. Sentiment in the options pits appeared to rebound as well, with the CBOE’s put/call volume ratio falling to 0.56. The 10-day moving average held at 0.61.

Anticipation ahead of corporate earnings was again the major driver for options activity on Monday, with Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) attracting considerable volume. Meanwhile, Microsoft Corporation (NASADQ:MSFT) saw some action as the company announced that it was going Android by partnering with Cyanogen.

Tuesday’s Vital Data: Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ), Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) and Facebook Inc (FB)

Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ)

Verizon was a popular target for call option traders yesterday ahead of the company’s first-quarter earnings report. But the bulls might have a bit of a rough ride this morning, as Verizon posted earnings of 84 cents per share, missing Wall Street’s estimates for earnings of 95 cents. Revenue rose 3.8% to $32 billion, just shy of expectations for $32.2 billion.

Subscriber growth was also lacking, with the company attracting 565,000 monthly subscribers compared to the consensus target for 587,000.

As noted above, calls were king for VZ on Monday, with a whopping 95% of the short-term record 373,348 contracts crossing on the call side. Peak call open interest currently resides at the overhead weekly April 24 series $50 strike, totaling 17,328 contracts. In premarket trading, VZ is hovering just below this strike, up 0.52% at $49.64.

Facebook Inc (FB)

Options activity spiked on social media giant Facebook on Monday, and FB stock should continue to see brisk activity today as traders position themselves ahead of the company’s first-quarter earnings report on Wednesday. Wall Street is currently expecting a profit of 40 cents per share from Facebook, though EarningsWhisper.com places the whisper number higher at 42 cents per share.

Facebook also garnered headlines after launching its Internet.org program in Indonesia after bringing the service to India back in February. FB has caught some flak over the service, which is designed to offer free access to hand-picked Internet services in countries with restrictive access laws. Free-web activists bemoan the service as not going far enough, but CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that “Some connectivity is definitely better than none.”

Returning to Facebook options, FB stock saw 256,714 contracts trade on Monday, with 71% of this volume crossing on the call side. Traders are currently heavily targeting the weekly April 24 series $85 call strike, which sports open interest of 15,913 contracts. Also of note are the 7,392 contracts at the in-the-money April 24 series $83 call.

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)

Outside of the earnings rush, Microsoft shares jumped more than 3% after the company announced a partnership with Cyanogen to feature Microsoft apps on Android phones. Microsoft has struggled to remain competitive in the smartphone market, and this move toward Google Inc’s (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) extremely popular Android OS should provide additional reach for the software giant.

Options traders certainly appear optimistic for MSFT stock, as 65% of the 271,771 contracts trading on the shares crossed on the call side on Monday. Weekly April 24 series options were the most popular, with traders piling into positions ahead of Microsoft’s third-quarter earnings report after the close on Thursday. Peak call open interest currently totals 13,039 contracts at the April $43 strike, while peak put open interest numbers 13,157 contracts at the April $42 strike.

As of this writing, Joseph Hargett did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

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Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2015/04/tuesdays-vital-data-verizon-communications-vz-microsoft-corporation-msft-facebook-inc-fb-options/.

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