Unusual Options Activity

1. BERY- Someone sold their 3,000 Mar 2015 $30 calls for $2.60 each, against open interest of 3,356 contracts. He/she bought those calls on November 10th for $0.70. Berry Plastics is set to report earnings on January 29th and the stock is currently up for the eight consecutive week.
2. C- The two largest single trades of the day in Citigroup were a seller of 6,900 Feb 13 weekly $48.50 puts for $0.65-$0.66 and then 11 minutes later a seller of 10,000+ Mar 20 $47 puts for $0.83-$0.84. Volume was above the open interest in the Feb 13 weekly $48.50 puts. The recent performance in U.S. treasuries has sent the stock down about 8% in less than a week. These big put sales are willing to step in ahead of earnings on January 15th (stock has moved higher after earnings on three straight reports).
3. EXAS- Roughly 5,000 Jan 2015 $27 calls were purchased for $0.60 each, against open interest of 1,986 contracts. The call to put ratio is 15:1 and call activity is 3x the average daily volume. Shares of Exact Sciences are down for the fifth straight trading day, but are now nearing a retest of support at the 50-day EMA. On January 5th, Lake Street Capital initiated the stock with a buy rating and a $33 price target.
4. JPM- More than 67,000 Feb 20 $60 calls traded with the single largest print being a buyer of 56,006 for $1.54 each, against open interest of 4,778 contracts. Call activity was 3x the average daily volume (buyer of 56,006 calls made it nearly double the average alone). Q4 earnings are due out before the bell on January 14th. JPMorgan Chase shares tested the 100-day SMA today (bounced near this area in mid-December). Yesterday, Barclays raised their price target to $73 from $67. Revenues in 2015 are likely to top $100B with 9% EPS growth (trades at a forward P/E under 10x).
5. MET- Another 10,000 Jan 2016 $45 puts were sold for $2.97-$3.00 each, against open interest of 24,213 contracts. There was new, large selling in these on December 23rd and January 2nd. Put activity in MetLife today was over 5x the average daily volume. Along with the bullish put sales there was also sizable buying in the Mar 2015 $55 calls (nearly 7,000 traded). Similar to Citigroup and other financials, MetLife shares have been hit, but are now at a point where the stock trades at a P/E ratio of just 8.50x (2015 estimates).
6. SGMS- A rollout from 7,015 Jan 2015 $12.50 calls ($1.17 credit) into 7,015 Apr 2015 $15 calls ($1.82 debit) today. Volume was above the open interest in the Apr 2015 $15 calls. Call activity is 10x the average daily volume and the call to put ratio was 19:1 (implied volatility +9.8% to 94.39). Scientific Games acquired Bally Technologies for $5.1B in November.
7. X- A possible rollout from 7,150 Jan 17 2015 $27 puts ($2.44 credit) into 7,150 Jan 17 2015 $25 puts ($1.09 debit) today. Volume was below the open interest in both options (check the open interest in the $25 puts tomorrow to see if this is a new position). Yesterday, someone took profits on 6,500 Apr 2015 $26 puts and rolled them into the Apr 2015 $24 puts. Shares of U.S. Steel have no major support until the $22.50 level from June 2014.

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BERY C EXAS JPM MET SGMS unusual options activity X