Thursday’s Vital Data: Micron, Starbucks and Oracle

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U.S. stock futures are lower this morning, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is on pace for an eight-session losing streak. Trade fears are dominating market sentiment, with U.S. tensions with both China and the EU pressuring stocks.

Traders are likely to get little relief today. On the economic front, weekly jobless claims came in slightly low and the Philadelphia Federal Reserve’s June manufacturing index slowed to 19.9, while and May leading indicators are due out later this morning.

Heading into the open, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average are down 0.32%. Meanwhile, S&P 500 futures have fallen 0.14% and Nasdaq-100 futures have slipped 0.09%.

In options activity, volume barely returned to normal on Wednesday. Overall, about 18.5 million calls and 13.4 million puts changed hands on the session. On the CBOE, the single-session equity put/call volume fall to 0.56. The 10-day moving average held at 0.55.

Options traders turned to earnings reports yesterday as drivers for heavy speculative activity. Micron (NASDAQ:MU) topped the list with impressive call volume after it’s third-quarter report.

Meanwhile, Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) saw mixed options activity on the heels of weak third-quarter guidance. Finally, Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) was plagued with puts following soft guidance and accounting changes.

Let’s take a closer look:

Thursday’s Vital Options Data: Micron Technology, Inc. (MU), Starbucks Corporation (SBUX) and Oracle Corporation (ORCL)

Micron Technology, Inc. (MU)

Micron stock initially dipped in after-hours trading last night, despite posting better-than-expected quarterly results. However, spirits lifted after the conference call with CEO Sanjay Mehrotra.

“We are very pleased with Micron’s execution and really excited about the opportunities ahead for our business,” Mehrotra told analysts on the call. He went on to project fourth-quarter revenue of  $8 billion to $8.4 billion and earnings of $3.23 to $3.37. Both figures were above analyst estimates for $8 billion in revenue and earnings of $3.17 per share.

Heading into the report, MU options traders were highly bullish. Volume soared to over 478,000 contracts, with calls claiming 68% of the day’s take. However, MU’s July put/call open interest ratio indicates there is still plenty of room on the call bandwagon.

Currently, this ratio arrives at 0.90, with puts nearing parity with calls. Peak put and call OI both reside at the $60 strike in the July series. MU stock is set to reclaim this strike in today’s session.

Starbucks Corporation (SBUX)

SBUX stock plunged more than 9% yesterday as traders reacted to poor guidance and store closures. Starbucks said it expected third-quarter same-store sales growth of just 1%, down from expectations for 1.5% growth.

The company blamed the shortcoming on failed marketing promotions designed to get more customers in the door late in the afternoon. Bad PR surrounding last quarter’s racial sensitivity training issues also hurt sales volumes. Starbucks is shuttering 150 U.S. stores in 2019 and cut guidance for the year to to $2.39-$2.43 per share from $2.48-$2.53.

SBUX options traders flooded the stock. Volume rocketed to 238,000 contracts, or more than 8.4 times SBUX’s daily average. Calls claimed 54% of the day’s take, just barely outpacing put volume.

The short-term outlook for SBUX options activity is rather muddy. The July put/call OI ratio comes in at 0.74, rising from 0.72 earlier this week. Call traders appear to be closing out positions, while the spike in put volume could indicate that bearish positions are growing. SBUX is now trading at fresh 52-week lows, however, so many of these puts could be protective or a sign of premium selling.

Oracle Corporation (ORCL)

Speaking of muddying the waters, Oracle did its best to undermine an otherwise solid quarterly report yesterday. The database company posted solid fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and revenue yesterday. Oracle even predicted higher revenue first-quarter revenue.

However, an accounting shift at the company led to questions about slowing growth in cloud revenue. Analysts and traders alike have been quick to punish ORCL stock for any signs of weakness in the company’s cloud unit, and yesterday was no exception.

ORCL options traders chased the stock lower, with puts dominating yesterday’s activity. Volume rocketed to 204,000 contracts, or nearly six times ORCL’s daily average. Puts claimed about 52% of yesterday’s take.

Put activity has been par for the course for ORCL options traders lately. Currently, the July put/call OI ratio rests at 0.89. This reading rose heading into earnings, indicating that many were expecting a post earnings decline from the stock. Peak put OI currently rests at the July $46 strike, which is now trading well in the money.

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


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2018/06/thursdays-vital-data-micron-starbucks-and-oracle/.

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