Monday’s Vital Data: Tesla Inc (TSLA), Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR) (TEVA) and Snap Inc (SNAP)

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U.S. stock futures are headed higher this morning, with Wall Street looking toward a positive start as Friday’s non-farm payrolls data spills over. Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average logged its ninth-straight daily gain, its longest winning streak since February. However, investors remain wary, as August and September are historically the worst months for returns.

Monday’s Vital Data: Tesla Inc. (TSLA), Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR) (TEVA) and Snap Inc. (SNAP)At last check, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.12%, Nasdaq-100 futures had added 0.16% and S&P 500 futures were lagging with a gain of 0.09%.

On the options front, volume was relatively average on Friday, with about 15.2 million calls and 14.1 million puts changing hands to end the week. Meanwhile, the CBOE single-session equity put/call volume ratio pulled back from this week’s highs to end at 0.66, but the 10-day moving average soared to its highest perch since April at 0.67.

Turning to Friday’s options activity, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) call volume spiked after the company posted better-than-expected second-quarter earnings. Meanwhile, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:TEVA) drew heavy put volume as generic drug prices imploded during the quarter. Finally, Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP) options traders began gearing up for Thursday’s trip to the earnings confessional.

Monday’s Vital Options Data: Tesla Inc. (TSLA), Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR) (TEVA) and Snap Inc. (SNAP)

Tesla Inc (TSLA)

TSLA stock ended Friday on a high note, after Tesla finally shut the bears up on Thursday. The company posted a narrower-than-expected loss of $1.33 per share on revenue of $2.79 billion, versus expectations for $1.80 per share and sales of $2.51 billion.

What’s more, capital spending rose to just $1.5 billion in the first half of 2017, well below expectations for $2 billion. Furthermore, negative cash flow, while still rather brisk at $1.16 billion, was below both Tesla’s and Wall Street’s expectations.

It was a clean sweep for Tesla, and the stock surged as a result, dragging options traders along for the ride. Volume on Friday jumped to over 573,000 contracts, with calls snapping up 59% of the day’s take. However, while post-earnings activity has reflected a taste for calls, puts dominate the front-month August series.

In fact, the August put/call open interest ratio currently rests at 1.36, as puts easily outnumber calls among options set to expire this month. While August has a reputation for losing investors money, TSLA bears have already been burned badly this year, and follow through buying in the wake of last week’s report could do the same going forward.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR) (TEVA)

The push for cost cutting in the healthcare sector (especially drug prices) has hit Teva pharmaceuticals hard. Last week, the company reported second-quarter earnings of $1.02 per share, missing the consensus estimate for $1.05 per share. Revenue rose to $5.69 billion from $5.04 billion last year, but just barely topped Wall Street’s target of $5.68 billion. However, generic drug revenue came in at $3.08 billion, whiffing the Street’s expectations for $3.12 billion.

Realizing that the situation for generic drugs is only going to get worse, traders bailed on TEVA stock, and flooded the shares with put volume on Friday. Total volume came in at a near-term high of 473,000 contracts, with puts making up 54% of the day’s take.

What’s more, the August put/call OI ratio has risen to a perch of 1.05 in the wake of last week’s report, as TEVA traders bet heavily on follow through selling on the shares. Currently, peak August put OI totals around 20,000 contracts at the deep-in-the-money $30 strike, while another 10,000 puts are currently open at the August $20 strike.

Snap Inc (SNAP)

Beleaguered social media upstart Snap is slated to slip onto the earnings stage this Thursday, and investors are expecting yet another losing quarter. Snap is seen posting a loss of 14 cents per share on revenue of $189.23 million, with the whisper number arriving at a loss of just 12 cents per share, according to EarningsWhispers.com.

Surprisingly, optimism is running high on SNAP ahead of earnings. Volume on Friday saw calls snap up 67% of the more than 433,000 contracts traded on SNAP stock. What’s more, this attention to calls has pushed the Aug 11 put/call OI ratio down to a bullish reading of 0.38. In other words, calls nearly triple puts among those options most affected by Snap’s quarterly report.

Implieds are currently through the roof for SNAP, with Aug 11 options pricing in a potential post-earnings move of more than 16.5% for SNAP stock. The upper bound currently rests at $15.75, while the lower bound lies at $11.25.

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/2017/08/monday-vital-data-tesla-inc-tsla-teva-pharmaceutical-industries-ltd-adr-teva-and-snap-inc-snap/.

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