Earnings Preview: ARM Holdings plc, Cisco Systems, Inc., and Twitter Inc

Earnings season has hit its stride, and in today's trading, Wall Street is mulling over the latest quarterly results from entertainment issue Viacom, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAB) -- and awaiting blue chip Walt Disney Co's (NYSE:DIS) after-the-close report. Looking ahead to tomorrow's docket, earnings from tech companies ARM Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:ARMH) and Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO), as well as microblogging firm Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), are due.

• Put buyers have been piling into ARMH's options pits in the weeks leading up to tomorrow morning's fourth-quarter results. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), speculators have bought to open 13.05 puts for every call in the past 10 sessions -- a ratio that arrives in the 96th annual percentile. This accelerated put volume is being seen in today's trading, as well, with puts crossing at 11 times the average intraday pace. Drilling down, it looks as if one speculator could be rolling out her long February 41 put -- which may have been initiated on Jan. 28 -- to the March series. Technically, ARM Holdings plc is hovering right around this strike, last seen up 1.1% at $40.85. Longer term, the stock has shed roughly 20% since hitting its most recent high of $51.23 on Dec. 1.


• Analysts have been quickly changing their tune on CSCO ahead of tomorrow night's scheduled event. Today, for instance, the stock received price-target cuts from Barclays (to $29) and Wunderlich Securities (to $24). Option traders have been growing more skeptical, as well. In the last two weeks, CSCO's 10-day ISE/CBOE/PHLX put/call volume ratio has jumped to 0.92 from 0.63, and now ranks in the 96th annual percentile. Meanwhile, those purchasing near-term pre-earnings options are willing to pay relatively high premiums, too, per CSCO's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 47% -- higher than all other readings taken in the past year. On the charts, Cisco Systems, Inc. continues to hover near its Jan. 20 annual low at $22.47, and was last seen off 0.4% at $22.83.


• TWTR is continuing to spiral today -- down 0.5% at $14.83, and fresh off another all-time low of $14.53. The options market is expecting a big swing of 27.9% for the shares in the session subsequent to reporting. For the sake of comparison, Twitter Inc has averaged a single-day post-earnings move of 13% over the past eight quarters. Options traders, it seems, are expecting this action to resolve to the downside. At the ISE, CBOE, and PHLX, the stock's 10-day put/call volume ratio of 0.57 rests higher than 98% of all comparable readings taken in the past year. Meanwhile, volatility expectations are high ahead of tomorrow night's results. Not only is the equity's SVI of 153% docked at an annual high, its 30-day at-the-money implied volatility of 110.1% is in the 99th percentile of its 52-week range.