Bears Have a Healthy Appetite for Puts on Whole Foods Market, Inc.

Pessimism toward Whole Foods Market, Inc. (WFMI) is reaching peak levels among option traders on the International Securities Exchange (ISE). During the past 10 days, speculators on the ISE have bought to open 16,290 puts on WFMI, compared to just 1,154 calls. The stock's 10-day put/call volume ratio of 14.12 ranks less than one percentage point from an annual peak, as traders have rarely shown a greater preference for puts over calls.

As a result, the stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) checks in at 1.39, just 12 percentage points from its own 52-week high. In other words, short-term traders have been more pessimistically aligned just 12% of the time during the past year.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, short interest on WFMI rose by 8.9% during the past month, and now accounts for 19.7% of the stock's available float. Plus, not one of the 13 analysts following the shares consider them worthy of a "buy" rating, according to Zacks

Judging by this resoundingly negative sentiment, you might never guess that the upscale grocer is actually faring quite well on the charts. WFMI recently consolidated into support at its 20-week moving average, which could serve as a springboard to launch the shares higher.

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