Sodastream International Ltd (SODA) call buyers have been active in recent weeks
Keurig Green Mountain Inc's (NASDAQ:GMCR)
$14 billion acquisition is providing a halo lift to rival
Sodastream International Ltd (NASDAQ:SODA) today. At last check, shares of the latter were up 9.2% at $15.31, while the stock's options are changing hands at six times the usual afternoon rate.
Technically speaking, this represents quite the change of pace for SODA. Heading into today's session, the equity was sitting on a 30% year-to-date deficit. Looking more closely, the shares were sinking under the weight of their 40- and 80-day trendlines. Thanks to this morning's bull gap, SODA has broken through those resistance levels, and is now set to close above its 100-day moving average for the first time since early July.
The stock's long-term struggles haven't been enough to deter bullish bettors at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). During the past 10 days, 16.53 SODA
calls have been bought to open for each
put -- a ratio that ranks in the 94th percentile of its annual range. Echoing this, the equity's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.30 sits at a 12-month low, suggesting short-term call open interest outweighs put open interest by an extreme margin. If, in fact, these are option bulls, today's red-hot price action is a welcome development.
However, the picture isn't so clear-cut. Almost 19% of SODA's float is
sold short, representing six days of trading activity, at typical volumes. Therefore, it's possible some of the recent call buying has been at the hands of
short sellers hedging against an unexpected bounce -- like the one we're seeing today.
Meanwhile, the brokerage crowd is clearly skeptical of Sodastream International Ltd (NASDAQ:SODA). Roughly 86% of covering analysts have handed out tepid "hold" recommendations.