Today's stocks to watch in the news include Bank of America Corp (BAC), ARM Holdings plc (ADR) (ARMH), and SolarCity Corp (SCTY)
U.S. stocks are modestly higher ahead of a slew of big-cap earnings due out this week. Among equities in focus today are financial stock Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC), tech stock ARM Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:ARMH), and renewable energy supplier SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY).
- BAC is up up 1.7% at $13.87, following better-than-expected second-quarter earnings. Longer term, Bank of America Corp has struggled -- down over 17.7% year-to-date, with rally attempts contained by the stock's 160-day moving average. Against this backdrop, options traders have been buying to open puts relative to calls at a faster-than-usual clip in recent months. Specifically, BAC's 50-day put/call volume ratio at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) of 0.36 sits in the 86th percentile of its annual range. Analysts, on the other hand, are mostly bullish on the stock, with 71% rating BAC a "buy" or better, and without a single "sell" in sight. However, some brokerages have begun changing their tune of late.
- ARMH is up 42.4% at $67.06, after Japanese telecom SoftBank said it will buy the chipmaker in an all-cash deal valued around $32 billion, or about a 43% premium to ARMH's close at $47.08 last Friday. Option players have been upbeat toward the stock in recent weeks, with ARM Holdings plc's 10-day ISE/CBOE/PHLX call/put volume ratio of 9.32 resting higher than 88% of all other readings from the past year. Elsewhere, short interest jumped 7.9% in the last reporting period to 16.9 million shares.
- SCTY is up 1.8% at $25.50, after the company announced it has raised $345 million in tax equity and increased its debt facility to fund new projects. Year-over-year, SolarCity Corp has shed over half of its value -- even as recent takeover chatter from Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) has helped boost the shares. Option players -- and analysts -- have been skeptical, however, with SCTY's 50-day ISE/CBOE/PHLX put/call volume ratio of 1.27 sitting higher than 72% of all other readings from the past 12 months. Plus, short interest on SCTY jumped 4.6% in the past two reporting periods, and now a hefty 39.6% of SCTY's float is sold short.
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