Twilio will buy Segment in a billion-dollar stock deal
The shares of cloud communications platform Twilio Inc (NYSE:TWLO) are up 4.2% at $319.02 at last check, and hit a new record high of $325.99 out of the gate, after reports that the company is set to buy cloud customer data platform Segment in a $3.2 billion stock deal. With Twilio seeing a surge in demand amid the work-from-home environment, this acquisition, though not yet solidified, will be the company's biggest yet.
This weekend news has the equity continuing its rally on the charts, on track for a fifth-straight win. Now up 226.9% year-to-date, TWLO's ascending 10-day moving average has emerged as support since an early-October bull gap.
Analysts are overwhelmingly bullish on Twilio, with 18 out of the 22 in coverage at a "buy" or better rating, and the remaining four a "hold." However, the 12-month consensus price target of $312.17 is now a 1.9% discount to current levels, so there is room for bull notes to push the equity even higher.
In the options pits, 2.12 calls have been bought for every put in the last two weeks at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). This ratio stands higher than 73% of readings from the past year, meaning options traders are looking more call-heavy than usual.
Today is more of the same, with options traders quick to chime in on the hot streak. In just the first half our of trading, 7,078 calls and 2,445 puts have crossed the tape -- four times what's typically seen at this point. Most popular by far is the October 290 call, expiring at the end of this week.
Lastly, the equity's Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) ranks at 92 out of a possible 100, implying that TWLO has tended to exceed volatility expectations in the past year -- a boon for option buyers.