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HomeAway, Inc. (AWAY) Option Buyers Hope for Higher Highs

AWAY bulls are buying April-dated call options

by 2/22/2013 1:47 PM
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Online vacation concern HomeAway, Inc. (NASDAQ:AWAY - 28.82) is extending its earnings-induced rally, and option traders foresee even higher highs in the coming months. In afternoon action, AWAY has seen roughly 11,000 calls cross the tape -- about 13 times its average midday volume. For comparison, fewer than 300 puts have changed hands thus far.

Most of the volume has transpired at the April 30 call, which has seen around 8,500 contracts cross on open interest of fewer than 450 contracts, pointing to newly opened positions. Plus, the majority of the calls have traded at the ask price, suggesting they were bought.

More specifically, the round-number calls changed hands at a volume-weighted average price (VWAP) of $1.00, indicating a breakeven of $31 (strike plus VWAP) -- in territory not explored since late 2011 -- for the buyers. Currently, the option's delta stands at 0.43, implying a 43% chance of moving into the money by expiration on Friday, April 19. Should AWAY take a breather and stay south of the strike, though, the buyers' maximum risk is the initial premium paid for the calls.

Even before this week's earnings-fueled bull gap, options traders were waxing optimistic on AWAY. On the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), traders have bought to open more than two calls for every put during the past two weeks, as evidenced by the equity's 10-day call/put volume ratio of 2.35.

In the same vein, the stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.21 indicates that calls more than quadruple puts among options with a shelf-life of three months or less. Even more telling, this ratio ranks in the 24th percentile of its annual range, suggesting short-term traders are more call-skewed than usual at the moment.

In afternoon trading, AWAY was last seen 1.6% higher in the $28.82 neighborhood, after touching a new annual high of $28.98 earlier in the session. However, thanks to this week's rally of more than 16%, the equity's Relative Strength Index (RSI) has soared to 83 -- in overbought territory, suggesting a bout of consolidation could be in the near-term cards.


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