Friday’s Options Alerts…
Stocks broke a two-day losing streak and rallied
higher today. Despite some mixed economic signals, tech stocks led the charge
today as Brocade Communications
(
BRCD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported better-than-expected
earnings that beat Wall Street’s estimate by a penny. The VIX
(
$VIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) opened near the
highs of its range and worked its way lower to close near the lows of the day. This intra-day shift in sentiment
suggests that fear is again on the retreat. Today’s action in the VIX triggered
a CVR
I buy signal. The VXN
(
$VXN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) exhibited the same behavior as the VIX,
as it too opened near its highs for the day, but closed right on its lows for
the day. This intra-day shift in sentiment is also telling us that
fear is retreating. The VXN also triggered a CVR
I buy signal. With both volatility indices giving us buy signals, we could
see a bias to the upside tomorrow.
Points of Significance:
FreeMarkets
(
FMKT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) jumped over 34% today after
raising their forecast on fourth quarter earnings on Wednesday. FreeMarkets sees their fourth quarter revenues growing 10 to 15
percent based on large customers that are renewing long term contracts. Option
volume was very heavy as it traded ten times its average contract volume.
InVision Technologies
(
INVN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) jumped over 20% today as they announced that they signed a $27 million contract to supply its CTX 9000DSi and CTX 2500
Explosives Detection Systems to airport operator Aeroports de Paris. Invision’s
options traded over three times its average. Williams Company
(
WMB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) today
reaffirmed that it will meet or exceed its previously announced earnings target
of $2.40 per share, or 15% growth. The company also said that it expects its net
exposure to Enron to be less than $100 million. Williams’ implied volatility is
at a new high.
| Volatility Index |
Close | Net Change |
Signals/Direction | % Above/Below 10 Day Moving Average |
Significance |
| VIX | 26.26 | DOWN 1.49 | CVR I BUY |
0.005 % Above | Not At Extreme |
| VXN | 48.91 | DOWN 3.30 | CVR I BUY |
5.36 % Under |
Not At Extreme |
Abnormal Options Volume With Price Movement
– Abnormal options volume (calls and puts) with stock price movement
| Name | Symbol | Net % Change |
Volume | Avg. Volume |
| FreeMarkets | FMKT | + 33.77 | 2486 | 241 |
| InVision Technologies |
INVN | + 20.71 |
1638 | 481 |
| Instinet Group |
INET | – 12.61 |
331 | 119 |
| Block (HR) |
HRB | + 12.05 |
3776 | 1404 |
| NBTY Inc. | NBTY | + 9.23 | 373 | 165 |
| Echelon Corporation |
ELON | – 9.02 |
774 | 330 |
Stocks With Biggest Spikes in Implied
Volatility – Stocks with biggest increases or decreases in implied
volatility compared to previous day.
Spike Up
| Name | Symbol | IV | Previous IV |
High IV |
Low IV |
| Telefonos de Mexico | TMX | 28.8 | 13.3 | 40.3 | 27.7 |
| American Electric Power | AEP | 31.4 | 26 | 30.1 | 22 |
| Expedia Inc. | EXPE | 62.8 | 53.8 | 100.22 | 49.7 |
| Williams Company | WMB | 55.8 | 50.2 | 52.3 | 35.1 |
| Embarcadero Technologies | EMBT | 97.9 | 89.6 | 106.1 | 88.6 |
| Compania Anonima | VNT | 58.9 | 54.2 | 76.7 | 48 |
Spike Down
| Name | Symbol | IV | Previous IV |
High IV |
Low IV |
| Host Marriot Corp. | HMT | 47 | 59.9 | 78.6 | 30.5 |
| Progress Energy Inc. | PGN | 21.9 | 26.3 | 29.1 | 17.9 |
| Williamette Ind. | WLL | 24.7 | 29.5 | 44.7 | 19.3 |
| Citizens Communications | CZN | 46.2 | 54.4 | 56.3 | 37 |
| Airtran Holdings | AAI | 75 | 84.9 | 104.7 | 50.1 |
| Meristar Hospitality | MHX | 33.6 | 38 | 60.5 | 20.8 |
Please use stops on every trade!