Thursday’s Vital Data: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), Twitter Inc (TWTR) and Ford Motor Company (F)

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U.S. stock futures are are mixed this morning. Wall Street is on its heels this week amid trade war concerns, including threats of $60 billion in Chinese import tariffs. But economic data this morning could bolster Street bulls.

stock market todayFour reports are due out this morning: Weekly jobless claims, February import prices, the March Philly Fed manufacturing index and the March Empire State Manufacturing Survey. All four are set to hit before the market open.

Ahead of these reports, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures have added 0.20%, S&P 500 futures are up 0.05% and Nasdaq-100 futures are down 0.02%.

Turning to the options pits, the desire for protection is on the rise again with puts gaining popularity. Overall, about 17.2 million calls and 17.7 million puts changed hands. The CBOE single-session equity put/call volume ratio rose to a one-week high of 0.69. The 10-day moving average held at 0.61.

Taking a closer look at yesterday’s options activity, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) puts continued to dominate the shares after reports of a security flaw surfaced. Meanwhile, Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) volume surged on buzz that the company was developing a camera-first feature to compete with Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP). Finally, Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) was upgraded by long-time bear Morgan Stanley.

Thursday’s Vital Options Data: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), Twiter Inc. (TWTR) and Ford Motor Co. (F)

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD)

Quite the drama is unfolding with AMD this week. On Tuesday, Viceroy Research published a 25-page report on AMD chip vulnerabilities. According to founder Fraser Perring, the research firm was anonymously emailed a draft of a CTS Labs report on new AMD semiconductor flaws. Viceroy then took out a “sizable” short position on AMD.

Analysts at Trail of Bits verified the AMD chip exploits. Chief Executive Dan Guido told Reuters that for an attacker to use these exploits, they must first gain administrator access to a targeted network.

The saga deepens, however, as CTS Labs gets paid to research on vulnerabilities in computer hardware. The lab declined to reveal who paid for the research.

With Viceroy shorting AMD ahead of the report’s “official” release, it could explain the flood of put volume on the stock last week. Who knows who else was anonymously sent the report.

Speaking of which, AMD once again saw heavy put volume yesterday. Total volume jumped to 413,000 contracts, with puts gobbling up 67% of the day’s take. AMD’s April put/call open interest ratio now stands at an annual high of 2.07, with puts doubling calls in the back month.

In my opinion, needing administrator access to use these exploits greatly lessens the potential impact. They are nowhere near as serious as Specter or or Meltdown. In short, these new AMD bears might get burned as a result.

Twitter Inc. (TWTR)

Rumors are swirling that Twitter may be poised to take on Snap with a new camera-first feature. On Tuesday night, a Twitter executive said that the company was placing an emphasis on video going forward, while making it easier for advertisers on the social media site. Additionally, the camera-first feature is reportedly designed to be integrated into Twitter’s core platform, which could pose a challenge to Snap.

Twitter stock options traders cheered the news. Volume on TWTR rose to 343,000 contracts, or roughly 3.5 times the stock’s daily average. Calls made up 68% of the day’s take.

Twitter now has a considerable bullish bias in the April options series. The April put/call OI ratio has fallen to a lowly 0.54, as calls nearly double puts in the series.

Ford Motor Company (F)

Morgan Stanley finally relented in its years-long bearish stance on Ford Motor. The ratings firm upgraded F stock to “buy” with a price target of $15 — a 35% upside from current levels. According to Morgan Stanley, the F-150 model line alone is worth 150% of Ford’s current value.

Ford stock options traders reveled in the upgrade. Volume jumped to 167,000 contracts, nearly tripling F’s daily average. Furthermore, calls made up 85% of the day’s take. Additionally, Ford’s April put/call OI ratio continues to decline. This reading now stands at 0.62 after spending much of past two months near 0.80.

This rise in bullish sentiment could be a bullish sign for F stock going forward.

As of this writing, Joseph Hargett held no positions on the aforementioned securities.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2018/03/thursdays-vital-data-advanced-micro-devices-inc-amd-twiter-inc-twtr-and-ford-motor-co-f/.

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