Buzz Stocks: BlackBerry Ltd, Qunar Cayman Islands Ltd, and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC

Today's stocks to watch in the news include BlackBerry Ltd (BBRY), Qunar Cayman Islands Ltd (QUNR), and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBS)

Jun 23, 2016 at 10:10 AM

U.S. stocks are significantly higher, with "Brexit" polls giving the "remain" camp an early lead. Among equities in focus today are mobile communications company BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY), Chinese travel company Qunar Cayman Islands Ltd (NASDAQ:QUNR), and banking stock Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (NYSE:RBS).

BBRY is up 3.9% at $7.01, as its better-than-expected full-year forecast overshadows a lackluster quarterly earnings report. BlackBerry Ltd is still down more than 20% since the beginning of the year, with recent rally attempts contained by its 50-week moving average. Among option traders, the demand for calls has dramatically outpaced the appetite for puts, with BBRY's 50-day call/put volume ratio at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) sitting at 9.50, a reading higher than 99% of all other readings from the past year. In other words, options buyers were ramping up their bullish exposure ahead of BBRY earnings.

QUNR is up 6.7% at $28.18, after the online travel company received an offer to go private from Ocean Management Ltd., valued at $30.39 per American depositary share. The stock touched an annual low yesterday, down over 50% since notching a 12-month high north of $55 at the end of December. Prior to today, QUNR had underperformed the greater S&P 500 Index (SPX) by 36 percentage points over the last 40 sessions, yet option players remained especially bullish towards Qunar Cayman Islands Ltd, with the stock's 50-day ISE/CBOE/PHLX call/put volume ratio of 4.65 in the 99th percentile of its 12-month range.

RBS is up 3% at $7.51, with the "Brexit" vote lifting European stocks, and following reports that the company has received bids for its Greek shipping finance business. RBS is now on pace to topple its 160-day moving average for the first time since July 2015. Calls have been popular with the near-term options crowd, with RBS's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.11 sitting in the bottom 4% of all readings taken within the past year, suggesting a stronger-than-usual call bias.

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