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LZB, SPLS, and SSI are moving sharply in Wednesday's trading
Around midday, three of the top market movers are recliner issue La-Z-Boy Incorporated (NYSE:LZB), office supplies seller Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPLS), and apparel retailer Stage Stores Inc (NYSE:SSI). Here's a quick roundup of how LZB, SPLS, and SSI are performing on the charts so far.
- LZB has spiked 7.4% to hover around $24.25, in the wake of a fiscal second-quarter earnings beat and increased dividend. Nevertheless, the shares remain nearly 22% south of breakeven on a year-to-date basis. On the Street, the brokerage bunch is bullish toward La-Z-Boy Incorporated. All five analysts covering the stock have assigned it a "buy" or better rating, while LZB's consensus 12-month price target of $28.67 stands at an 18.2% premium to current trading levels.
- SPLS is in rally mode today, up 9.3% to trade at $13.94 -- thanks to better-than-expected quarterly earnings. From a wider perspective, however, the shares have dropped more than 12% since the beginning of the calendar year. Unlike LZB, Staples, Inc. has drawn the bearish ire of the brokerage crowd. In fact, all 14 analysts tracking SPLS have doled out "hold" or worse recommendations. Plus, the equity's consensus 12-month price target of $11.48 represents a discount to the current share price. Should SPLS' post-earnings momentum continue, a round of upgrades and/or price-target hikes could provide tailwinds. What's more, the stock could benefit from short-covering activity, as 11.7% of SPLS' float is dedicated to short interest -- an amount that would take 12.3 sessions to buy back, at typical daily trading volumes.
- SSI has rallied nearly 20% at midday, due to a narrower-than-anticipated third-quarter loss. At last check, the stock was sitting at $18.81 -- still 15.3% below the year-to-date flat line. Regardless, today's surge in Stage Stores Inc shares is likely music to the ears of short-term options traders. The security's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.23 indicates call open interest more than quadruples put open interest, among options set to expire in the next three months. What's more, this SOIR is lower than 86% of all readings taken in the last year, suggesting an unusually strong bias toward short-term calls over puts.