AutoZone, Inc. (AZO) and Rite Aid Corporation (RAD) are fresh off mixed earnings reports
A handful of companies
reported earnings overnight. Among them were car parts retailer
AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) and pharmacy chain
Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE:RAD). Below, we'll take a quick look at how AZO and RAD fared in the earnings confessional, and how their respective stocks are moving as a result.
AZO reported
better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and sales slightly below expectations, while also authorizing an additional $750 million stock buyback. Out of the gate, though, the stock is down 1.1% at $742.48, but appears to have found a foothold atop its year-to-date breakeven mark after a recent pullback from an
unsuccessful test of the $820 area over the summer.
Options traders are counting on this downtrend to persist. During the last two weeks at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), speculators have bought to open 1.34 AutoZone, Inc. puts for every call. Notably, this ratio outranks three-quarters of all readings taken in the past year, hinting at a pronounced bias toward long puts over calls.
Rite Aid Corporation is 0.4% higher at $8.13 following a mixed earnings report, which revealed
better-than-forecast earnings, although revenue fell short of the consensus estimate. Of course, price action on the stock is relatively muted, since the company is
likely to be acquired by Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) for $17 billion, or $9 per share.
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