Monday’s Vital Data: LinkedIn Corp (LNKD), Facebook Inc (FB) and Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA)

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Wall Street is picking up this morning where it left off on Friday. Weak oil prices and a mixed U.S. jobs report sent stocks spiraling to their worst weekly losses in a month last week, and futures are pointing toward a 200-point loss of the Dow Jones Industrial Average already this morning.

Drilling down on U.S. stock futures, futures on the Nasdaq Composite are off 1.7%, with Dow futures off 1.18% and S&P 500 futures down 1.21% at last check.

Option volume was above average on Friday, with activity driven by expiring weekly Feb 5 series options and a steep selloff in the equity market. On the CBOE, the single-session equity put/call volume ratio jumped to a one-month high of 0.95, while the 10-day moving average extended its bounce off last week’s bottom to hit a one-week high of 0.71.

In equity options news, LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD) calls were quite popular on Friday, despite the company scaring the bejeezus out of investors by issuing 2016 guidance below Wall Street’s expectations. In fact, LinkedIn’s warning caught investors so off guard that the rest of the tech sector was smacked with heavy losses, especially Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), which fell nearly 6% in sympathy.

Speaking of warnings, Tesla Motor Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) drew heavy put volume after UBS issued several warnings on the company, including low demand and production problems.

Monday’s Vital Data: LinkedIn Corp (LNKD), Facebook Inc (FB) and Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA)

LinkedIn Corp (LNKD)

LNKD stock was beaten silly on Friday, with the stock plummeting more than 43% in the wake of the company’s fourth-quarter earnings report. Quarterly results actually bested Wall Street’s targets, with earnings of 94 cents per share on revenue of $862 million compared to expectations for 78 cents per share and sales of $857 million.

Full-year 2016 guidance, however, whiffed, with LinkedIn targeting $3.6 billion to $3.65 billion versus expectations for $3.9 billion. The company’s outlook prompted Mizuho Securities to downgrade the stock to neutral from buy and telling clients that LNKD “should not enjoy the premium multiple it has grown accustomed to.”

Traders clearly agreed, though options traders appeared to anticipate a rebound from the selloff. Overall volume topped 568,000 contracts, with calls snapping up 60% of the take. Looking at weekly Feb 12 series open interest, LNKD is hovering above a pair of heavy put strikes, with 1,291 puts at the $105 strike and 1,434 puts at $100.

Facebook Inc (FB)

Fears that Facebook may face the same pressures as LinkedIn forced FB shares nearly 6% lower on Friday. Less than a week ago, Facebook posted blowout earnings and solid guidance, but LinkedIn’s report shook the foundations for FB bulls. Given LinkedIn’s more professional client base, the correlation between the two may be a bit unjustified, but the damage is already done.

Friday’s options data also reflected caution among FB traders. Total volume arrived at 1.7 million contracts, with call volume accounting for only about 58% of the total. Calls typically make up between 64% and 65% of FB’s total average daily volume, so Friday’s activity was well below the norm.

As for weekly Feb 12 series OI, FB is hovering just above $100 in premarket trading, placing the century mark back in play. There are currently 3,800 contracts open at the weekly Feb 12 series $100 put, with 2,483 calls open at this strike. A breach at this key support level this week could have bearish implications for FB going forward.

Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA)

Tesla Motors is on tap to release its quarterly earnings report this week, and recent comments from the brokerage community is raising traders hackles. On Friday, UBS warned that low gas prices is slowing demand for electric vehicles and that production for Tesla’s Model X isn’t ramping up as expected. Additionally, UBS said it believes that Model 3 production may be delayed once again.

TSLA, which already has a rocky sentiment backdrop, saw a rise in put volume on Friday following UBS’s report. Some 387,000 contracts traded on TSLA stock, with puts snapping up 55% of the day’s take.

In premarket activity, the shares are down nearly 5%, hovering just above $155. As a result, TSLA is trading south of potential put support at $160, with the 1,479 contracts at $155 and 1,746 contracts at $150 left to help prevent a further plunge in the shares.

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/2016/02/mondays-vital-data-linkedin-corp-lnkd-facebook-inc-fb-and-tesla-motors-inc-tsla-options/.

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