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ODP, S, and SGY are moving sharply in Tuesday's trading
Around midday, three of the top market movers are office supply pusher Office Depot Inc (NASDAQ:ODP), telecom issue Sprint Corporation (NYSE:S), and oil-and-gas concern Stone Energy Corporation (NYSE:SGY). Here's a quick roundup of how ODP, S, and SGY are performing on the charts so far.
- ODP has cruised more than 20% higher this morning to hover near $6.09, after reporting a third-quarter earnings beat and raising its full-year income outlook. Earlier, in fact, the shares touched a multi-year high of $6.25, and are now sitting in positive territory on a year-to-date basis. In recent months, however, traders have been betting bearishly on Office Depot Inc. Specifically, the equity's 50-day International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) put/call volume ratio of 1.08 ranks in the near-extreme 98th percentile of its annual range. In other words, speculators have picked up bearish wagers over bullish with greater rapidity just 2% of the time in the previous year.
- Unlike ODP, S has plummeted 19% to trade at $5.02 -- and earlier hit a record low of $4.86 -- after publishing disappointing fiscal second-quarter results. What's more, Sprint Corporation lost 272,000 wireless subscribers last quarter, lowered its full-year earnings forecast, and announced it will fire 2,000 employees to reduce costs. This negative news was met with howls on Wall Street, where a handful of analysts reduced their price targets on the equity -- including J.P. Morgan Securities, which trimmed its outlook to $5 from $6, and reiterated its "neutral" opinion on the shares. This bearish attention is nothing new for S, however. In fact, 15 out of the 18 brokerage firms following the stock have given it a "hold" or worse rating.
- Finally, SGY tumbled to an annual low of $19.81 this morning, following a third-quarter earnings miss. At last check, the shares remain 16.1% lower at $20.48, bringing their year-to-date deficit beyond 40%. Not surprisingly, options traders have shown a distinct bearish bias toward Stone Energy Corporation over the past 10 weeks. Specifically, the stock's 50-day ISE/CBOE/PHLX put/call volume ratio of 0.40 checks in higher than 80% of all comparable readings from the past year.