Thursday, May 23, 2013

Post Market Report: 5-23-13

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Pre-Market/Post Market: 5-23-13

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Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Post Market Report: 5-22-13

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Saks Inc (SKS) - Cheater or Shrewd Trader? 600% in 29 seconds.


SKS is trading $15.67, up 14.6% with IV30™ up 40.6%. The LIVEVOL® Pro Summary is below.



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Saks Incorporated is a department store retailer. The Company, and its subsidiaries, is engaged in the operation of Saks Fifth Avenue (SFA) stores and SFA e-commerce operations (Saks Direct), as well as Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH (OFF 5TH).

This is a very quick note on some suspicious trading... By suspicious I mean thousands of call purchases in the front month 30 seconds before the close yesterday. And I do mean literally 30 seconds before the close.

Many thanks to Doris Frankel from Reuters for the heads up on this one.  If you don't follow her, you are missing out.  For that matter, the same goes for Cecile Vannucci, Nik Gammeltoft and Jeff Kearns from Bloomberg and Kaitlyn Kiernan at Dow Jones.  You should be reading their stuff daily IMHO.

First, the news moving SKS:

---
Saks Inc. shares surged 14% to $15.58 on Wednesday after reports surfaced late Tuesday that the high-end department store chain has hired Goldman Sachs to explore strategic options, including a potential sale.

Source: MarketWatch via Yahoo! Finance: Saks explores a sale; how much is it worth?, written by Andria Cheng.
---

OK, here's the pre-market close trading from yesterday in the Jun 13 and 14 calls. Note the time stamps (EST):





Uh huh....

And here is the Options Tab right now.



So the June 14 calls went from $0.30 to $1.85 and the Jun 13 calls went from ~$0.85 to $2.70.  That's more than 6x and 3x the purchase prices, respectively purchased 21 seconds pre-close in the Jun 14 calls and anywhere from 31 - 50 seconds pre-close in the Jun 13 calls. OK...

The question remains, was this a cheater or a very shrewd trader that was reading the headlines and digesting them faster than everyone else?  Usually when I ask that question I'm being facetious, this time, I actually mean it -- it's ambiguous.  Check out the news from the NY Post -- their website has a story posted 3 min after the close yesterday... Hmmm...


---
UPDATE: It looks like the NY Post did tweet a message with the news 8 minutes before the close, so this was in fact a shrewd trader. Very well done and very legal.
---

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Rackspace (RAX) - Stock Down 50% on Back-to-Back Earnings Collapses, But What About the Vol?


RAX is trading $38.56, up 1.5% with IV30™ up 7.9%. The LIVEVOL® Pro Summary is below.




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Rackspace Hosting, Inc., is the open cloud company. The Company offers a diverse portfolio of cloud computing services, including public, dedicated and private cloud, and hybrid hosting.

I found this stock using a real-time custom scan. This one hunts for vol gainers on the day. I note this stock actually not so much of the vol pop today, but b/c the vol is so low relative to its annual history while the stock has been cascading lower. So this is a vol pop note on a depressed vol stock.

Custom Scan Details
Stock Price GTE $5
IV30™ GTE 30
IV30™ Percent Change GTE 9
Average Option Volume GTE 1,200
IV30™ Change GTE 7

The two-year RAX Charts Tab is included (below). The top portion is the stock price the bottom is the vol (IV30™ - red vs HV20™ - blue vs HV180™ - pink).



On the stock side we can see the abysmal return since the stock hit a multi-year high in late Jan of this year. Since then the stock has fallen from over $81 to now $38.66, or a 52% drop in five months. We can see two large gaps down in that short-time period, both right after earnings releases. I do note that consecutive earnings releases have resulted in a large stock drops.

But then we look at the implied vol (the red curve in the bottom portion of the chart) and note how depressed it is to its own history as well as how depressed it is to the two historical realized vol measures (HV20™ in blue and HV180™ in pink).

I have included the two-year IV30™ chart in isolation, below.



Here’s what surprises me. While it’s normal that vol rises and then falls into and out of earnings, this is not a “normal” situation. The stock continues to fall off of bad news from earnings in the trading following the news and has continued to fall (excluding today) from its $80 high price. The IV30™ is now trading in the 22nd percentile with respect to the last year – in other words, the vol is depressed to its own history. In my mind, the implied is remarkably low given the recent stock movement and uncertainty (i.e. gaps down off of earnings reflect “surprises” = risk).

Finally, let's look to the Options Tab (below).



Across the top we can see Jun vol is priced 44.42% and Jul vol is priced to 41.21%, so Jul vol is even lower than Jun. That feels… low, right?... or not?

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Pre-Market/Post Market: 5-22-13

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Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Post Market Report: 5-21-13

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Synta Pharma (SYNTA) - Vol Explodes to Event Due out Soon; But Skew is Highly Irregular.. What Does that Mean?


SNTA is trading $7.52, up 1.2% with IV30™ up 2.2%. The LIVEVOL® Pro Summary is below.



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Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp. is a biopharmaceutical company. The Company is focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing small molecule drugs to severe the medical conditions of the patients with cancer and inflammatory diseases.

This is a vol note on a tiny bio-tech (in terms of revenue) that clearly has an event due out within Jun expiry. We can examine the vol and then I'll show you the phenomenon that really caught my eye. It's quite odd in these types of situations and is an interesting perspective to analyze.   For a company with $150K in revenue but a market cap of over half a billion dollars, yeah, there's some risk.

Let's start with the two-year SNTA Charts Tab below. The top portion is the stock price, the bottom is the vol (IV30™ - red vs HV20™ - blue vs HV180™ - pink).



On the stock side we can see that the equity was trading in the $ range less than two years ago, reached the $12 range earlier this year and has taken a rather abrupt drop from those highs to now ~$7.50. The stock is down 27% in May.

On the vol side we can see the IV30™ (the red curve) rocketing higher of late. In mid March (after earnings), the options were trading at 60% IV30™. In the last two months that level has risen more than 200%. Without reading a single piece of news we know a potential enterprise changing event is coming very soon.

I have included the three-month IV30™ chart in isolation below to better illustrate the vol rise.



Again, we see this in bio-techs when a study result or FDA ruling is due out. This isn't uncommon (though it is interesting). The weird part lies hidden in the skew. let's turn to the SNTA Skew Tab, below.



Here it is.. We see that the front month (red curve) is trading well above the second month (yellow curve), so the event is due out in this expiry rather than next (or so reflect the options). But, checkout that skew shape for Jun -- it's an upside down (negative) parabola, where the option market reflects less risk to the OTM options than the ATM options. In English, in particular to the upside, the option market reflects less likelihood of a large upside move than a small move (or even a downside move). Normally we see parabolic shaped skew in the other direction -- that is, OTM options on both sides show more risk than the ATM options reflecting two-tailed risk, or in English, the option market reflects ~equal possibility of really big bad news or really big good news.

I have included just one example of this parabolic skew below. This is for DNDN (another bio-tech) on 2-27-2012.



Noe how the skew is a right-side up (positive) parabola.  Again, this is more normal -- where the upside and downside OTM options reflect two-tailed elevated risk.

Finally, let's turn to the Options Tab.


Across the top we can see that Jun vol is priced to 190.83% and Jul vol is priced to 156.285 -- again, Jun is the month with the vol event.  For a company with $150K in revenue but a market cap of over half a billion dollars, yeah, there's some risk.

Finally, let's look to the Options Tab (below).

This is trade analysis, not a recommendation.

Pre-Market/Post Market: 5-21-13

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Monday, May 20, 2013

Post Market Report: 5-20-13

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SunPower (SPWR) - Vol Diff Opens; Upside Skew Diverges in Front as Stock Moves 500+%


SPWR is trading $22.01, up 4.5% with IV30™ up 12.9%. The LIVEVOL® Pro Summary is below.



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SunPower Corporation is a vertically integrated solar products and services company that designs, manufactures and delivers solar electric systems worldwide for residential, commercial and utility-scale power plant customers.

I found this stock using a real-time custom scan I built that hunts for calendar spreads between the front two monthly expiries. Combine this skew with an enormous stock appreciation of late and we have a very interesting story.

Custom Scan Details
Stock Price GTE $5
Sigma1 - Sigma2 > 7
IV30™ GTE 30
Average Option Volume GTE 1,200

Let’s start with the Skew Tab to examine the month-to-month and line-by-line vols.



There are two phenomena that caught my eye here.

(1) Obviously, Jun vol is well elevated to Jul (the red curve is above the yellow curve)
(2) May vol shows an upside skew reflecting greater risk (potential) to the upside than to the downside. This is not normal skew, though for firms in the solar industry, it’s not “unusual.” The point is, the vol diff grows substantially large between the two months as we move to OTM calls.

The one-year SPWR Charts Tab is included (below). The top portion is the stock price the bottom is the vol (IV30™ - red vs HV20™ - blue vs HV180™ - pink).



Just look at that stock chart, it’s incredible. At point during the last year, this was a $3.71 stock and it’s now trading nearly 6-fold that price. The upside skew in May reflects this upside risk (potential). The overall vol pop today has put the IV30™ for SPWR in the 75th percentile on an annual basis, but if we look at the bottom chart (the vol char) we can see that in fact the red curve (IV30™) is right about in line with the two historical realized vol measures. In English, the implied, though I’s popping today, feels about “fair.”

Finally, let's look to the Options Tab (below).



Across the top we can see that May is priced to 89.66% while Jun is priced to 80.49%. But this isn’t a story about a 9 point vol diff from month-to-month. Check out that upside, for example the May/Jun 29 call spread. That shows ~17% vol diff. The option market reflects near-term upside risk in SPWR and from the stock chart, I can see why.

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Pre-Market/Post Market: 5-20-13

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Friday, May 17, 2013

Post Market Report: 5-17-13

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Solarcity (SCTY) - Stock Explodes, Vol Explodes -- One Makes Sense, the Other, Not So Much...


SCTY is trading $44.88, up 25.8% with IV30™ up 29.9%. The LIVEVOL® Pro Summary is below.



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SolarCity Corporation (SolarCity) is engaged in the design, installation and sale or lease of solar energy systems to residential and commercial customers, or sale of electricity generated by solar energy systems to customers.

This is a vol and price note on a stock that is exploding today. Let's start with the news:

---
Wall Street’s major banks continue investing in the clean energy sector, with The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) the latest to jump on the bandwagon. Goldman entered into a deal to finance approximately 110 megawatts (MW) rooftop solar power generators of Calif.-based SolarCity Corporation (SCTY). The combined lease financing agreement for homeowners’ rooftops is worth $500 million, and is the biggest deal to be announced in the U.S.

The agreement began in 2012 and extended as per its initial terms, to April-end. The deal has already helped achieve 26 MW of solar generation. Further, it is expected to generate an additional 158 MW as of May 10, 2013.

Source: ZACKS via Yahoo! Finance: Goldman Invests in Solar
---

Let's start with the Charts Tab (six months), below. The top portion is the stock price, the bottom is the vol (IV30™ - red vs HV20™ - blue vs HV180™ - pink).



On the stock side we can see that the price hit a low of $9.20 over the last year and as of this writing is trading nearly 500% of that level.  The news today is big -- perhaps the most telling part is this reprise: " The combined lease financing agreement for homeowners’ rooftops is worth $500 million, and is the biggest deal to be announced in the U.S."

But it's actually the vol that has my attention, so let's turn to an isolated IV30™ chart, below.



We can see how elevated the implied got into the last earnings cycle (the blue "E" icon), and then the obligatory vol crush.  The news today has pushed the vol right back to the peak ahead of earnings.  Here's the thing... The news is out... It seems to be unambiguous.  Goldie is a reputable name -- I don't think there is a doubt about the investment actually happening... Agree so far?

OK... Well, if you do... Then why is the vol exploding today?  Or said differently, why is the vol at an all-time high?  What is "unknown?"  Yes, this investment seems to be valuation changing (duh), and yes, it's a big deal... but that's not what vol measures, that's what the equity price measures.  I must say, this is a bit confounding to me.  Then I looked to the Skew tab, and got more confused...



So Jun is elevated to Jul, that makes sense.  But what is a little weird is.. the skew is normal.  Yeah, it's weird to me that a firm up 400% in a year and 25% in a day with vol at all-time highs on the largest investment of its type ever from Goldie has no upside skew at all.  No parabolic (two-tailed) risk reflected by the option market... Just normal, "hoe hum" skew.  What?...

Finally, let's turn to the Options Tab.



Across the top we can see that Jun vol is priced to 126.90% and Jul is priced to 114.54%.  Man that seems high... ya know, or not?...

FULL DISCLOSURE: I hold a small short vega position in SCTY in Jun.

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