Thursday’s Vital Data: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA) and Tesla Inc (TSLA)

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U.S. stock futures are trading broadly lower this morning, as Wall Street retreats from yesterday’s tech rally in the face of looming jobs data. Traders will get a preview of Friday’s June nonfarms payroll report today with the ADP private-sector employment report ahead of the open this morning.

Thursday’s Vital Data: Tesla Inc (TSLA), Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA)Meanwhile, weekly jobless claims are also on tap today, as well as a report on the May U.S. trade deficit, the Markit June services sector index, and the June ISM services index. Finally, several Fed speakers will also be in the mix to talk about topics ranging from housing finance reform to government policy and labor productivity.

With so much uncertainty in the air, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average have dropped 0.3%, S&P 500 futures have shed 0.33% and Nasdaq-100 futures have fallen 0.76%.

On the options front, volume has fallen off sharply this week, undermining the strength of yesterday’s broad market rally. Overall, about 13.1 million calls and 11.4 million puts changed hands on Wednesday, arriving well below average. On the CBOE, the single-session equity put/call volume ratio extended its decline to 0.61, hitting a one-week low. The 10-day moving average followed suit, tagging a one-month low of 0.61.

Diving into Wednesday’s options activity, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) plunged more than 7% and drew mixed options activity after reporting lower-than-expected second-quarter unit deliveries. Elsewhere, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) was call heavy in the wake of a stronger-than-expected report on global semiconductor sales. Finally, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) set its sights on the home assistant market by announcing the release of the Genie X1 in early August.

Thursday’s Vital Options Data: Tesla Inc. (TSLA), Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA)

Tesla Inc (TSLA)

With a run up of more than 70% since November, TSLA bulls were just itching for an excuse to take profits off the table, while bears were longing for an excuse to say “we told you so.” Tesla gave both that opportunity yesterday when it said that second-quarter deliveries came in at just 22,000 vehicles, at the low end of the company’s guidance. Wall Street was expecting deliveries of 23,655 units.

The fact that Tesla still hit its mid-year target of between 47,000-50,000 vehicles mattered little, as the company said deliveries were lower than it had hoped due to battery pack production shortfalls. Analysts at Goldman Sachs jumped on the report, lowering its full-year deliveries estimate and cutting its price target to $180.

With TLSA plunging more than 7% on the news, options traders began repositioning themselves to limit losses. Volume topped 697,000 contracts on Wednesday, with calls only managing 51% of the day’s take — down sharply from a recent trend toward call heavy trading. What’s more, TSLA’s July put/call open interest ratio has risen steadily to a near-term peak of 0.97, as puts are added at a faster rate than calls. This shifting sentiment could be an indicator of additional losses over the short-term for TSLA stock.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD)

AMD stock took part in the broad tech rally yesterday, bolstered by a report from the Semiconductor Industry Association that said global chip sales rose 22.6% to $31.9 billion in May, marking the strongest year-over-year growth since September 2010. AMD stock surged more than 8.5% on the news, and received an extra boost on news that the company’s Ryzen chips were gaining in popularity among hardcore PC builders.

Volume in AMD’s options pits jumped to nearly 634,000 contracts, with calls snapping up 77% of the day’s take. Call volume has remained high on AMD, and the July put/call OI ratio has begun to move lower once again, arriving at 0.51 today. In short, the trend toward profit taking and closing out existing call positions appears to have abated, and AMD options traders are once again opening up new long call positions.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA)

As if Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) weren’t already struggling to gain ground in China, Alibaba has just dealt the duo a death blow in the home assistant market. The Chinese e-commerce giant just announced it was launching the Genie X1 home assistant, much to the chagrin of Google Home and Amazon’s Alexa.

While both Home and Alexa hit the market well before the Genie, neither Google nor Amazon have a considerable presence in China due to regulation issues. As a result, the Genie X1 should have no problem whatsoever snapping up market share.

BABA options traders appeared to arrive at this same conclusion, as call volume swelled to account for 65% of the more than 305,000 contracts traded on Alibaba stock yesterday. Furthermore, short-term BABA options traders have grown increasingly bullish on the shares, with the July put/call OI ratio falling to 0.61 as calls are added at a faster rate than puts.

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-tesla-inc-tsla-advanced-micro-devices-inc-amd-alibaba-group-holding-ltd-baba/.

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