Axiom had some positive things to say about eBay Inc (EBAY), but the shares remain lower
For the past several weeks, call buying has been the strategy of choice among eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) traders. The security's 50-day International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) call/put volume ratio stands at 2.99, meaning roughly three calls have been bought to open for each put. Plus, this reading is only 10 percentage points from an annual peak.
Things are no different today, as nearly 3,600 calls have crossed in EBAY's option pits compared to fewer than 830 puts. It looks like the weekly 6/5 61-strike call is being bought to open, as traders bet on the stock to topple $61 -- which would mark an all-time high -- by next Friday's close, when the series expires.
Elsewhere on the Street, the stock received bullish attention from Axiom, where an analyst upgraded EBAY to a "buy" from "hold" ahead of its PayPal spinoff. The note stated, "Both companies should be well-capitalized after the spin and both are likely to be acquisition candidates in the years following the separation." Regardless, EBAY shares are off 1.1% at $59.07 at last check.
Sentiment is mixed among the other analysts covering eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY), which has traded between $55 and $61 since late February. As it stands now, 13 brokerage firms call the stock at least a "buy," with 15 others calling it a "hold" or worse.