Blue-Chip Bank Stock Moves Higher After Blowout Earnings

The shares of financial name Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) are higher this morning, last seen up 1.5% at $332.51 in pre-market trading, after the company turned in a stellar first-quarter earnings report. Specifically, Goldman Sachs reported earnings of $18.60 per share, blowing past Wall Street's expected $10.22 per share. Meanwhile, revenue finished at $17.7 billion, well above the $12.6 billion forecast and more than doubling on a year-over-year basis. 

The security has pulled back since notching a March 18 record high of $356.85, finding a ceiling at the $335 level. However, long-term support at the 50-day moving average has caught recent pullbacks. Year-over-year, Goldman Sachs stock sports an 82.9% lead.  

Additional tailwinds could come in the form of a shift in the options pits. This is per the stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.05, which stands in the slightly elevated 74th percentile of its annual range. In other words, short-term traders have rarely been more put-biased.  

Now could be a good time to weigh in on GS's next move with options. The equity's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 27% sits in the low 4th percentile of all other readings from the past year. This suggests options players are pricing in lower-than-usual volatility expectations at the moment. What's more, amid a post-earnings volatility crush, the security's Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) sits at a high 84 out of 100, indicating the equity has exceeded volatility expectations during the past 12 months -- a boon for options buyers.