GDDY shares have had a huge year
Shares of web-hosting specialist GoDaddy Inc (NYSE:GDDY) are up 3.5% in pre-market trading, after the company last night reported strong first-quarter sales, along with a better-than-expected second-quarter outlook. The company also noted that its closely watched average revenue per user (ARPU) metric continues to grow, rising 6% for the period. Already up more than 68% year-over-year, the stock appears ready to take out its May 7 record high of $66.80 after closing yesterday at $65.96.
Analysts are certainly betting on GDDY's rally to continue. At least eight analysts have raised their price targets since the results hit yesterday, including hikes to $80 from SunTrust Robinson and Jefferies. Overall, 12 of the 17 brokerage firms with coverage on the security say to buy it.
Despite GoDaddy's technical strength and past earnings success -- the shares surged 10.9% after earnings last quarter -- not many options traders were betting bullishly ahead of earnings. In fact, the May 60 and 65 puts saw some of the biggest increases in open interest during the past 10 days, and although the May 65, 67.50, and 72.50 calls are home to notable open interest, it appears most the positions here were sold to open.