Thursday’s Vital Data: Facebook Inc (FB), Nvidia Corporation (NVDA) and Netflix, Inc. (NFLX)

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U.S. stock futures are pushing the major market indices toward fresh record highs this morning, as Wall Street cheers dovish comments from Federal Reserve President Janet Yellen. Speaking before the House Financial Services Committee yesterday, Yellen stressed the Fed’s gradual approach to tightening monetary policy and said that interest rates won’t rise much further.

Thursday’s Vital Data: Facebook Inc (FB), Nvidia Corporation (NVDA) and Netflix, Inc. (NFLX)Oil, meanwhile, is getting hammered after the International Energy Agency said it expects slowing global demand for the rest of the year and noted that the global oil supply rose by a greater-than-expected 720,000 barrels per day in June. Increased U.S. output and weak compliance with production cuts from OPEC members were largely to blame for the rise.

The overall effect for futures has been bullish this morning. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were last seen higher by 0.03%, S&P 500 futures were up 0.1% and Nasdaq-100 futures had added 0.1%.

On the options front, volume returned to normal on Wednesday, with about 14.5 million calls and 13.1 million puts changing hands. On the CBOE, the single-session equity put/call volume ratio dropped to 0.60, though the 10-day moving average held at 0.64.

Taking a closer look at Wednesday’s options activity, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) saw increased call volume after the company announced plans to roll out Messenger ads to all 1.2 billion users sooner rather than later. Elsewhere, an Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) bear at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey has flipped and upgraded the stock to “buy,” while Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) options traders gear up for Monday’s trip to the earnings confessional.

Thursday’s Vital Options Data: Facebook Inc (FB), Nvidia Corporation (NVDA) and Netflix, Inc. (NFLX)

Facebook Inc (FB)

Ads may be coming to your Facebook Messenger app sooner rather than later. Facebook was already running a beta test of its planned ad expansion in Thailand and Australia, and the results are apparently good enough that the company is looking to bring those ads to the rest of the service’s 1.2 billion users — possibly before the end of the year.

While users aren’t all that thrilled about the new ad push, FB stock and options traders clearly are. FB stock broke out to fresh all-time highs yesterday, and options traders were loaded to the gills with calls. Volume topped 830,000 contracts on Wednesday, and calls snapped up an above average 69% of the day’s take.

There is still plenty of room on the bullish bandwagon in the FB options pits, as the July put/call open interest ratio rests at a middling reading of 0.75. However, the 28 Jul put/call OI ratio, which expires the same week as Facebook reports second-quarter earnings, resides at a considerably bullish reading of 0.43, with calls more than doubling puts.

Nvidia Corporation (NVDA)

NVDA stock soared to a new all-time high on Wednesday after SunTrust Robinson Humphrey analyst William Stein upgraded the shares to “buy” from “hold.” Stein admitted he underestimated Nvidia’s growth potential in core markets, but believes that while he missed the start of the rally, it’s not too late to get in now.

“Yes, [Nvidia] is widely loved, but there are aspects of the company we think are underappreciated,” Stein wrote in a note to clients.

NVDA options traders also took the opportunity to chime in, sending more than 591,000 contracts across the tape for the stock. What’s more, calls made up 60% of the day’s take. However, this latest round of call activity may have been spurred on by profit taking.

While NVDA’s July put/call OI ratio had fallen for several sessions straight, the reading rebounded to 0.90 on Wednesday, from Monday’s perch at 0.87. If NVDA can hold its ground north of $160, I would expect this reading to reverse lower once again.

Netflix, Inc. (NFLX)

While I believe that the big news surrounding Netflix is the return of Stranger Things this October, Wall Street will be more focused on the company’s looming second-quarter earnings report. Netflix will take the earnings stage after the close this Monday, with analysts expecting earnings to rise 77% to 16 cents per share from 9 cents per share in the same quarter last year. Revenue is expected to jump 31% to $2.76 billion.

EarningsWhispers.com places the whisper number for Monday’s report at 18 cents per share, pointing to elevated expectations.

Subscriber numbers will be the real story, however. The consensus is looking for about 2.6 million new subs added for the second-quarter, with expectations driven by Netflix’s strong original content lineup. The quarter has been historically weak for Netflix, however, with last year’s growth in the same quarter coming in at 1.7 million new subs, compared to expectations for 2.6 million.

Options traders are showing some concern heading into the report. On Wednesday, volume hit 244,000 contracts, though calls only made up 53% of the day’s activity. What’s more, the July put/call OI ratio rests at a lofty 1.05, meaning that puts outnumber calls among options most affected by next week’s quarterly report.

While other FANG stocks have recovered from last month’s flash-crash, NFLX is still languishing well below its recent highs. The company needs a solid report on Monday to help NFLX catch up to the rest of the group.

As of this writing, Joseph Hargett did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2017/07/thursday-vital-data-facebook-inc-fb-nvidia-corporation-nvda-netflix-inc-nflx/.

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