Monday’s Vital Data: Facebook Inc (FB), Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) and Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL)

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U.S. stock futures are treading water near breakeven in premarket trading, as Wall Street weighs it options ahead of more than a dozen central bank policy meetings around the globe this week.

Monday’s Vital Data: Facebook Inc (FB), Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) and Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL)Stateside, the Federal Reserve kicks off its policy meeting this Tuesday, with results delivered Wednesday afternoon. And we still have a slew of corporate earnings reports on tap.

Against this backdrop, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average are down 0.03%, S&P 500 futures have lost 0.05% and Nasdaq-100 futures have dipped 0.06%.

Options activity was relatively unchanged on Friday, though put volume retreated somewhat. On the day, 13.8 million calls and 11.3 million puts changed hands. Over on the CBOE, the single-session equity put/call volume ratio edged lower to 0.59, while the 10-day moving average rose to meet it at 0.59.

In equity option news, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) was downgraded ahead of Wednesday’s second-quarter earnings report, while Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) saw a spike in call volume following Friday’s impressive earnings performance. Finally, Paypal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) plunged 7% following news of its partnership with Visa Inc (NYSE:V).

Monday’s Vital Options Data: Facebook Inc (FB), Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) and Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL)

Facebook Inc (FB)

Analysts at BTIG downgraded FB stock to “neutral” from “buy” on Friday, as the share passed BTIG’s $117 price target. Analysts noted that expectations have grown “too aggressive” on FB recently, even though management has said that Facebook faces tough year-over-year comparisons.

For its part, Facebook will step into the earnings confessional after the close this Wednesday. Analysts are expecting a profit of 81 cents per share on revenue of $6.02 billion. Expectations are clearly higher among some speculative brokerage firms, however, as EarningsWhisper.com reports a whisper number of 84 cents per share.

Options traders remain quite bullish on FB’s post-earnings prospects, with calls making up 66% of the more than 478,000 contracts traded on the stock on Friday. What’s more, the weekly July 29 series put/call open interest ratio has fallen to 0.43, with calls more than doubling puts among options set to expire this week. Implieds are pricing in a potential post earnings move of about 6.3% for FB stock.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD)

Once on its way out as a chip manufacturer, Advanced Micro Devices is making a comeback. The company posted stronger-than-expected second-quarter results last week, with AMD reporting a loss of five cents per share compared to expectations for a loss of nine cents per share. Revenue jumped 9% to $1.02 billion, versus analysts’ target resting at $942 million.

Option bulls were all over AMD on Friday, driven by the stock’s nearly 12% rally on the day. Some 308,000 contracts changed hands on AMD, with calls accounting for a whopping 76% of the day’s take. Overall, short-term options traders have grown more bullish in recent weeks, with AMD’s July/August put/call OI ratio falling from a reading near 1.0 to its current perch at 0.78. Peak August call OI currently totals 20,540 contracts at the out-of-the-money $6.50 strike.

Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL)

PayPal and Visa were on a collision course. So, instead of battling it out for supremacy, the pair reached a partnership agreement last week. Judging from PYPL’s nearly 7% plunge, stockholders believe PayPal got the short end of the stick. The deal reportedly cuts into PayPal’s margins, but what the company loses in margins it is expected to make up in revenue growth, with Visa giving PayPal access to millions of additional merchant locations.

PYPL options traders joined in the bearish movement on Friday, with puts making up 69% of the roughly 291,000 contracts traded on the stock. What’s more, the July/August put/call OI ratio rose following Friday’s translation to rest at 0.95, continuing a trend of puts being added at a faster rate than calls on PYPL stock.

Traders are currently focused on the August $42 call (12,460 contracts in OI) and the August $34 put (44,307 contracts in OI).

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/2016/07/mondays-vital-data-facebook-inc-fb-advanced-micro-devices-inc-amd-paypal-holdings-inc-pypl/.

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