Monday’s Vital Data: Bank of America, Netflix and Facebook

U.S. stock futures are mixed this morning. Wall Street has placed its focus on corporate earnings, with Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) taking center stage today.

However, geopolitical concerns are threatening to derail market bulls. Specifically, President Donald Trump’s looming summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Against this backdrop, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average are up 0.03%. Meanwhile, S&P 500 futures are down 0.06% and Nasdaq-100 futures have added 0.05%.

In options activity, volume remained below average on Friday. Overall, only about 17.5 million calls and 14.3 million puts changed hands on the session. On the CBOE, the single-session equity put/call volume jumped to 0.62. The 10-day moving average held its ground at 0.62.

Options traders were naturally focused on corporate earnings season, with Bank of America and Netflix leading the way on Friday. Additionally, Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) was also popular at the end of last week after Jefferies boosted its price target on FB stock.

Let’s take a closer look:

Monday’s Vital Options Data: Bank of America, Netflix and Facebook

Bank of America (BAC)

Options traders were keen on BAC stock ahead of this morning’s quarterly earnings report. Bank of America didn’t disappoint. The banking giant reported second-quarter earnings of 63 cents per share, topping expectations for 57 cents per share. Revenue came in at $22.609 billion, also besting Wall Street’s expectations for $22.286 billion.

On Friday, BAC stock options traders loaded up on calls. Volume topped 557,000 contracts, with calls claiming 69% of the day’s take. What’s more, short-term BAC options traders were ambitious.

For instance, peak July call open interest (OI) totaled more than 150,000 contracts at the deep out-of-the-money $31 strike. The next most popular were the $30 call strike, with 140,000 contracts, and the $29 call strike with 130,000 contracts.

In premarket activity, BAC stock is on course to top $29, with the shares up more than 1.3% at last check.

Netflix (NFLX)

After the close today, Netflix will steal the corporate earnings limelight. Analysts are expecting Netflix to earn 79 cents per share, up significantly from the 15 cents per share last year. Revenue is expected to rise 41.4% to $3.94 billion. As usual, however, most of Wall Street will be focused instead on Netflix’s subscriber growth.

While traders still have today to position themselves ahead of tonight’s report, some bulls got the party started on Friday. Volume on NFLX stock options rose to 486,000 contracts, with calls managing 62% of the day’s take.

Currently, NFLX’s July put/call OI ratio comes in at 0.87, which is down only slight from a reading of 0.89 just two weeks ago. In other words, while call activity has risen on NFLX, it hasn’t translated into near-term call open interest. It could be a sign that traders are cautious ahead of this afternoon’s report.

Facebook (FB)

Facebook isn’t slated to take the earnings stage until Wednesday next week. But this hasn’t slowed down FB stock options traders. What’s more, analysts at Jefferies gave bullish speculators some ammunition yesterday. The ratings firm reiterated its “buy” rating, boosted its price target $240 from $215 and predicted that second-quarter sales would be above expectations.

FB stock options traders seized on the news. Volume jumped to 251,000 contracts, just above FB’s daily average. Calls accounted for 63% of yesterday’s activity. Looking ahead to next week, FB options traders have grown considerably bullish.

Specifically, the weekly July 27 put/call OI ratio has fallen to 0.44. In other words, calls are more than twice as popular as puts among options most affected by next week’s quarterly report.

As of this writing, Joseph Hargett was long on Bank of America stock.


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Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2018/07/mondays-vital-data-bank-of-america-netflix-and-facebook/.

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