Monday’s Vital Data: Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA), Intel Corp. (INTC) and Netflix Inc. (NFLX)

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The major market indices were little moved on Thursday, as many on Wall Street had already left for the July 4 holiday weekend. The S&P 500 logged its second-straight weekly loss, and this week looks to be quite volatile given Greece’s “no” vote on austerity measures to meet European bailout terms.

stock-market-today-185Options traders were dialing in protection on Thursday, with the CBOE equity put/call volume ratio rising to 0.70. The 10-day moving average ended the week at 0.68.

On the equity front, Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) drew a flurry of options activity after a bullish research note from Credit Suisse highlighted strong Chinese deliveries. Meanwhile, Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) announced a series of leadership changes, including the resignation of President Renee James. Finally, Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) remained in the headlines on Thursday after Chicago enacted a “cloud tax” targeting online streaming services.

07-06-2015 Top Ten Options

Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA)

In a research note on Thursday, Credit Suisse said it was optimistic about Tesla’s coming quarterly earnings report. Credit Suisse cited strong deliveries in China as part of its rationale that Tesla would hit its full-year delivery guidance of 55,000 vehicles. The brokerage firm also underscored that deliveries grew 52% year over year for Tesla, with growth coming in at 15% quarter over quarter.

With TSLA stock trading just shy of all-time highs, it should come as no surprise that options volume swelled to a short-term record for the shares. More than 224,000 contracts traded on TSLA on Thursday, with calls accounting for about 57% of the day’s activity.

Looking at the weekly Jul 10 series, we see that options traders are focused on the overhead $285 and $280 call strikes, which both sport open interest of more than 2,070 contracts. On the put side, the out-of-the-money $270 and $275 strikes are the most popular, with open interest of 2,325 contracts and 2,036 contracts, respectively.

Intel Corp. (INTC)

Semiconductor giant Intel reported a shakeup in leadership on Thursday. Most notable of the management moves, Intel President Renee James announced that she would be stepping down to pursue a CEO position outside the company. James will remain in her current role until January in order to transition a new executive officer into the position.

But while INTC stock rallied on the news, options traders remained more cautious. Volume came in at 137,257 contracts, with puts accounting for 55% of the day’s volume. Open interest in the weekly Jul 10 series appears to be pointing toward range-bound activity for INTC. Currently, peak call open interest lies at the overhead $31 strike, totaling 17,330 contracts, while peak put open interest rests at the out-of-the-money $30 strike, totaling 14,441 contracts.

Netflix Inc. (NFLX)

Dubbed the “Netflix tax” by some, Chicago instituted a new tax on streaming services last week that could hit consumers by up to as much as 9%. Chicago’s new “cloud tax” is being seen by some analysts as a way for local governments to provide net neutrality protections. Unfortunately, Allied Fiber CEO Hunter Newby believes the new tax will force many cloud-based services to move their servers out of the Chicago area.

While volume was relatively light on NFLX on Thursday, options traders seemed relatively unfazed by the new tax scheme. Some 92,000 contracts traded on NFLX, with activity split nearly evenly between puts and calls. Looking at weekly Jul 10 series open interest, calls dominate the landscape.

Currently, the $700, $680 and $665 call strikes all maintain open interest in excess of 1,100 contracts each.  By comparison, peak put open interest for the series totals 924 contracts at the out-of-the-money 630 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/2015/07/mondays-vital-data-tesla-motors-inc-tsla-intel-corp-intc-netflix-inc-nflx/.

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