Buzz Stocks: Kohl's Corporation, Angie's List Inc, and Advance Auto Parts, Inc.

Today's stocks to watch include Kohl's Corporation (KSS), Angie's List Inc (ANGI), and Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (AAP)

Nov 12, 2015 at 9:50 AM

U.S. stocks are pointed lower this morning, tracking losses in oil futures following dovish remarks out of Europe. Among the equities in focus are retailer Kohl's Corporation (NYSE:KSS), Internet interest Angie's List Inc (NASDAQ:ANGI), and automotive issue Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP).

KSS has gained 8.1% to trade at $46.65 after reporting better-than-expected third-quarter earnings and revenue. Prior to this morning's earnings report, Kohl's Corporation was the target of some negative analyst attention, pushing the shares lower throughout Wednesday's session to tag a two-year low of $42.19 intraday. According to near-term at-the-money straddle data, traders were pricing in a 10.3% post-earnings swing for KSS shares – suggesting speculators may have overpaid a bit for volatility ahead of the event. Options traders have been leaning bullish on KSS, as the Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) currently sits at 0.76, which ranks lower than 86% of readings taken in the past year – indicating a strong preference for calls over puts among near-term traders.

A buyout offer has ANGI bears sweating, after IAC/InteractiveCorp (NASDAQ:IACI) said it is offering about $512 million, or $8.75 per share, to acquire the service review website. The offer comes in at a 10.5% premium to ANGI's Wednesday close at $7.92, and shares of Angie's List Inc are up 12.1% at $8.88 on the news. While ANGI has more than doubled in value from its July lows, traders have been decidedly bearish on the stock recently. The security's SOIR of 1.93 is just one percentage point shy of an annual high, and almost 17% of the stock's float is sold short. With ANGI trading north of IACI's bid price this morning, it looks like some of the weaker bearish hand are hitting the exits.

AAP cut its full-year guidance following a third-quarter earnings miss, which has the shares down 11.4% at $172.57 this morning -- whittling their year-to-date gain to roughly 8%. Unfortunately, options traders were hoping for a positive post-earnings move from Advance Auto Parts, Inc. The stock has a 10-day call/put volume ratio of 3.23 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), meaning that more than three calls have been bought to open for every put in the last two weeks -- a ratio that ranks in the bullishly skewed 90th percentile for the past year.

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