Monday’s Vital Data: Apple Inc. (AAPL), Tesla Inc (TSLA) and AT&T Inc. (T)

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U.S. stock futures are trading cautiously higher this morning, as Wall Street assesses the impact of Hurricane Harvey on Texas refineries and energy production facilities. Now downgraded to a tropical storm, Harvey could dump as much as 50 inches of rain on Huston as it grinds up the coastline toward Louisiana. Already some 15% of the U.S.’s refining capabilities have been knocked out, and more delays are expected for oil production in the area.

Monday’s Vital Data: Apple Inc. (AAPL), Tesla Inc (TSLA) and AT&T Inc. (T)Against this backdrop, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are up 0.07%, S&P 500 futures have added 0.13% and Nasdaq-100 futures have risen 0.14%.

On the options front, volume remained below average on Friday, as about 12.9 million calls and 11.6 million puts changed hands to close out the week. On the CBOE, the single-session equity put/call volume ratio ticked higher to 0.69, while the 10-day moving average fell to a one-month low of 0.66.

Turning to Friday’s options activity, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) saw daily average call volume fall to near-term lows despite a bullish note from Gene Munster at Loup Ventures. Elsewhere, more data on Tesla Inc’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) streaming music service attracted ire from options speculators. Finally, AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is struggling with FCC complaints that it favors richer neighborhoods over poorer ones when it comes to internet speed.

Monday’s Vital Options Data: Apple Inc. (AAPL), Tesla Inc (TSLA) and AT&T Inc (T)

Apple Inc. (AAPL)

Perennial Apple bull Gene Munster took aim at the latest slate of home assistant technologies from Apple, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL).

According to Munster, “The long-term winner will be the product that provides its user with a heightened experience and improved efficiency.” That product is Apple’s new HomePod, he says. Despite Amazon’s Echo already having a three-year head start, Munster believes the HomePod’s “frictionless experience” and processing power will overcome that disadvantage.

AAPL stock options traders, however, don’t appear to be buying into the hype. Volume on Friday dipped to 485,000 contracts, arriving well below Apple’s daily average. Furthermore, call’s only made up 59% of the day’s take — again, below the daily average which ranges in the 62%-63% range.

What’s more, several large blocks traded in the September series that could indicate bearish expectations for AAPL stock. According to Trade-Alert.com, two blocks totaling 37,500 each simultaneously traded on the Sept. $150 call and put. The blocks crossed at the mid and ask, respectively, hinting at an out-of-the-money risk reversal spread that would benefit most from AAPL stock diving back below $150 before September options expire.

Tesla Inc (TSLA)

More details rolled in on Tesla’s streaming music service last week. According to a Tesla insider named “Green,” code for the service is already present in current Tesla models and the back end of the service is ready, but there is no customer facing options yet available. However, there is still no confirmation that Tesla will ever offer the service, how much it will charge, or if “TTunes” is the official name of the service.

One thing is certain, however, and that is that TSLA options speculators aren’t all that keen on the idea of Tesla striking out on its own instead of pairing up with Apple or Spotify. Volume on Friday came in at a lackluster 133,000 contracts, with calls only eking out 53% of the day’s take. What’s more, most of the recent call activity for TSLA has been profit taking. Currently, the September put/call open interest ratio has ballooned to a reading of 1.52 from last Friday’s reading of 1.31.

AT&T Inc. (T)

AT&T has a growing PR problem in the Cleveland, Ohio area. According to FCC complaints, AT&T is favoring wealthier neighborhoods over poorer ones when it comes to internet speeds and service. According to the complaint, AT&T has shown “a pattern of long-term, systematic failure to invest in the infrastructure required to provide equitable, mainstream internet access to residents of the central city (compared to the suburbs) and to lower-income city neighborhoods.”

AT&T has denied the complaints and has promised to defend itself vigorously.

Options traders are certainly putting no stock in the allegations, at least judging by Friday’s activity following the report. Volume topped out at 74,000 contracts, with calls snapping up 79% of the day’s take. That said, short-term pessimism was already heavily in the cards, as the September put/call OI ratio currently rests at 2.24, with puts more than doubling calls among front-month options.

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/mondays-vital-data-apple-inc-aapl-tesla-inc-tsla-and-att-inc-t/.

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