DryShips Inc., Diana Shipping Inc., and FreeSeas Inc Get a Boost from Greece

DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ:DRYS), Diana Shipping Inc. (NYSE:DSX), and FreeSeas Inc (NASDAQ:FREE) are trading higher today after Greece submitted its latest bailout plan

Karee Venema

Jul 10, 2015 at 11:15 AM

Greece continues to dominate headlines, after the fiscally strapped nation last night submitted a new bailout proposal to its creditors -- who now have until Sunday to accept or reject the terms. Optimism over the new deal has helped lift global markets, and three shipping concerns seeing a much-needed boost from the day's bullish bias are DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ:DRYS), Diana Shipping Inc. (NYSE:DSX), and FreeSeas Inc (NASDAQ:FREE).

DRYS is up 1.41% this morning to trade at $0.54. Longer term, it's been a rough road for the stock, which has surrendered almost 82% year-over-year, and hit a record low of $0.49 on Tuesday. In the options pits, speculators have shown a clear penchant for long calls over puts in recent months. In fact, at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), DryShips Inc.'s 50-day call/put volume ratio of 19.90 ranks just 1 percentage point from a 52-week peak.

Elsewhere, DSX is 1.8% higher at $7.20, bringing its year-to-date lead to 7.3%. More recently, the shares have been stalling out in the $7.35-to-$7.40 region -- an area that rejected Diana Shipping Inc.'s advances in mid-May. Speculative traders have shown a fondness for puts over calls among options expiring in three months or less. Specifically, the security's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.08 rests higher than 74% of all similar readings taken in the past 12 months. In other words, short-term traders are more put-skewed than usual.

Finally, FREE is seeing the biggest percentage gain today -- tacking on 6.4% to linger near $2.88. However, the equity has struggled over the long term, shedding more than 91% of its value in 2015. What's more, the shares bottomed at a record low of $2.12 on June 15. Amid this massive decline, short sellers have been cashing in their bearish bets in droves. Short interest on FreeSeas Inc plunged 77.1% in the latest reporting period, and now accounts for less than 1% of the stock's available float.

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