The shares have finally topped their Day 1 peak
Shares of Etsy Inc (NASDAQ:ETSY) are soaring in early trading, after the company lifted its 2018 revenue growth outlook, now expecting a 32%-34% increase. The company also hiked its seller transaction fee to 5% from 3.5%, and said it has plans to increase investments in direct marketing. Against this backdrop, ETSY stock is exploring record highs.
ETSY has been an outperformer this year, more than tripling over the past 12 months. At last check, the online retail concern is up 24.8% at $41.46, and earlier touched an all-time peak of $42.25. As such, the e-commerce concern finally topped its former peak of $35.74, touched on its first day of public trading back in April 2015.
In the options pits, however, traders have been extremely bearish of late. Data from the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) shows ETSY with a 10-day put/call volume ratio of 2.23, ranking in the 99th percentile of its annual range. This means puts have been purchased over calls at a faster-than-usual clip during the past two weeks. However, considering Etsy stock's rapid ascent, some of the recent puts could've been purchased by shareholders looking to lock in profits.
Interestingly, short interest on the stock rose 10% during the past two reporting periods, and now represents nearly 7% of the ETSY's total available float.The stock's ability to rally in the face of selling pressure speaks to its underlying strength.