Thursday’s Vital Data: Facebook Inc (FB), Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA) and Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO)

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Selling pressure continued on Wall Street on Wednesday, with all three of major market indices dipping lower on the session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average led the way lower with a loss of 0.48%, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.45%. The S&P was also notable for closing below its 50-day moving average for the second consecutive session. Options traders were clearly spooked, with the CBOE put/call volume ratio arriving at 0.73 on the day, which sent the ratio’s 10-day MA to a one-month high of 0.66.

Turning toward individual stocks, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) announced that its newly launched Messenger video calling service saw more than 1 million calls during the service’s first two days, while Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) CEO Marissa Mayer offered insight into the company’s partnership with Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and its spinoff of Yahoo’s Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd (NYSE:BABA) holdings. Finally, Tesla Motors Inc (NADSAQ:TSLA) was a hot topic for options traders heading into the company’s first-quarter earnings report.

Thursday’s Vital Data: Facebook Inc (FB), Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA) and Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO)

Facebook Inc (FB)

FB stock bucked the market downtrend yesterday to close up 0.7% after the company announced strong uptake for its newly launched video messaging service. The Messenger app saw 1 million video calls within the first two days of launch — a feat was made even more notable given that the service is only available in 18 markets. According to Facebook, the Messenger app has a customer base of about 600 million, and the company is looking at broadening the video service’s reach going forward.

Calls were the option of choice for FB speculators on Wednesday. Volume on the day came in at an above average 263,432 contracts, with 77% of that activity crossing on the call side. Traders are currently heavily focused on FB’s May $80 strike, with 19,339 calls and 18,280 puts currently open at this front-month strike.

Technically, FB is hovering just above key support in the $77-$78 region, which is home to the stock’s 200-day moving average. A breakdown here could bring more put activity to the table.

Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA)

Options activity was mixed on TSLA stock yesterday, as investors fretted over the company’s looming first-quarter earnings report. Volume came in at 120,788 contracts for TSLA stock, with just 51% of this activity trading as call options. That said, weekly May 8 series options data shows a distinct preference for puts, with heavy accumulations at the $205, $210, $220 and $230 strikes — all of which sport open interest in excess of 2,100 contracts.

Digging into Tesla’s earnings report, the company posted a wider-than-expected loss of $1.22 per share on revenue of $939.9 million. Wall Street was looking for a loss of 89 cents per share on revenue of $1.04 billion. Despite the poor performance, Tesla maintained its full-year outlook, and said it would begin shipping the Model X SUV in the third quarter.

Technically, TSLA stock rose about 2% in after-hours trading last night following the report, but the shares have taken a nosedive in premarket trading. Heading into the open, TSLA is down nearly 4.5% to trade just north of $220. Extended selling pressure could make those weekly May 8 series puts look like smart money.

Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO)

YHOO stock also swam upstream on Wednesday, with the stock gaining 0.87% on the day.  What’s more, the shares are up more than 6% in premarket trading following comments from CEO Marissa Mayer in a meeting with Wall Street Journal writers. In the meeting, Mayer discussed the Microsoft partnership and the spinoff of the company’s position in Alibaba — noting that Microsoft was about making Yahoo!’s search product better and that Alibaba would provide a tax benefit to the company. Mayer also said that Yahoo!’s future will be driven by better advertising formats and that video and mobile were a central focus for growth.

YHOO call options were heavily favored on Wednesday, judging by overall volume. On the day, some 111,659 contracts traded on YHOO stock, with 63% of that volume trading as call options. Short-term options traders are currently focused on the soon-to-be in-the-money May 45 call strike, with 53,875 contracts open at this front-month call. Put traders have also taken an interest in the May $45 strike, with open interest totaling 46,016 contracts. Also of note are the 37,930 contract open at the out-of-the-money May $40 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/2015/05/thursdays-vital-data-facebook-inc-fb-tesla-motors-inc-tsla-yahoo-inc-yhoo-options/.

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