Monday’s Vital Data: Netflix, Inc. (NFLX), Pandora Media Inc (P) and Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA)

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U.S. stock futures are pointing to fresh all-time highs for Wall Street this morning, as traders largely shook off the defeat of Italy’s constitutional-reform referendum and signs of continued growth in the U.S. economy. Speaking of the economy, the November purchasing managers index and ISM non-manufacturing index are both due out later this morning.

Monday’s Vital Data: Netflix, Inc. (NFLX), Pandora Media Inc (P) and Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA)Against this backdrop, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average have jumped 0.36%, while S&P 500 futures are up 0.37% and Nasdaq-100 futures are both up by 0.44%.

On the options front, volume returned to normal levels on Friday, with about 15.4 million calls and 13.3 million puts changing hands on the session. Over on the CBOE, the single-session equity put/call volume ratio rose to 0.67 — a two-week high — while the 10-day moving average advanced to 0.62 — also a two-week high.

Among Friday’s volume leaders, Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) continued to drive higher on improving options sentiment after announcing offline viewing for certain devices. Elsewhere, Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P) rocketed higher on Friday following reports it was in acquisition talks with Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI). Finally, Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) continued to struggle with investor sentiment in the wake of its SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY) acquisition.

Monday’s Vital Options Data: Netflix, Inc. (NFLX), Pandora Media Inc (P) and Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA)

Netflix, Inc. (NFLX)

Netflix announced last week that it was finally launching one of its customers’ most-wanted features — offline viewing. The new feature, which was announced on Wednesday last week, makes it so that subscribers can download their favorite shows via wifi at home and watch them on the go, easing the data-cap load for many mobile viewers.

Many Netflix Originals are already available for offline viewing, but subscribers need to have either Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS or Alphabet Inc’s (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google Android operating system in order to take advantage of the new feature.

NFLX stock has gained more than 6% since the announcement, and call volume has been heavy during that period. On Friday, for instance, NFLX saw call volume swell to 56% of the more than 256,000 contracts traded on the session.

In fact, Netflix has seen its total December put/call open interest ratio fall from a reading north of 1.00, where puts were in sentiment control, to its current perch at 0.82. What’s more, we could see the rate of call adds pick up sharply, with NFLX reclaiming $120 on Friday, as technical buyers move back into the stock.

Pandora Media Inc (P)

Online music streaming service Pandora Media may be up for sale. According to reports last week, the company is once again in talks with Sirius XM about an acquisition

Investors may remember that Pandora rebuffed an offer of $15 per share from Sirius back in July. But with Pandora continuing to lose market share to the likes of Spotify, buyout talks appear to be on the table once again.

Options traders have been quick to jump in on the speculation. Pandora saw record short-term volume on Friday, with calls making up 81% of the more than 237,000 contracts traded on P stock. In fact, Pandora’s December put/call OI ratio has plunged to a reading of 0.17, with calls more than quintupling puts among options set to expire before the end of the year.

Given this level of optimism in the options pits, traders appear to be placing big bets on a potential buyout deal.

Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA)

Electric carmaker Tesla is entering the home building market. While it sounds odd at first, the news is a no-brainer following Tesla’s acquisition of SolarCity. According to CEO Elon Musk, Tesla will begin offering new solar-powered residential roofs sometime in 2017. Musk has promised a revolutionary roof that is “lighter and easier to ship, thus reducing costs on breakage and transportation.”

But many investors remain skeptical of Tesla’s promises, and TSLA stock is suffering as a result.

Nowhere is the rising bearish sentiment more clear than in the options pits. On Friday, TSLA saw volume rise to 223,000 contracts, with puts snapping up 58% of the day’s take. The $180 strike has quickly become a favorite among TSLA put traders, with more than 2,200 contracts open in the weekly Dec 9 series, and nearly 5,000 contracts in the monthly Dec 16 series.

With put volume on the rise, it could be a sign that TSLA options traders are looking for a continued decline from the shares heading into 2017.

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/2016/12/vital-data-netflix-inc-nflx-pandora-media-inc-p-tesla-motors-inc-tsla/.

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