General electric will split into three publicly traded companies
The shares of General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) are surging today, last seen up 6.1% at $115, after the former blue-chip conglomerate announced it will split into three publicly traded companies. Each entity will focus on a different sector, including aviation, energy, and healthcare, the latter of which will be spun off in early 2023. CEO Lawrence Culp noted the move is intended to make General Electric "stronger" by enabling businesses and teams to improve performance.
Earlier today, General Electric stock gapped to a three-year high of $116.12. The 200-day moving average has been serving as an area of support for the security, which has recently gone through a few months of sideways trading. Year-over-year, GE boasts a 63.9% lead.
The options pits lean pessimistic. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), General Electric stock's 50-day put/call volume ratio of 0.52 sits higher than 88% of readings from the past year. This high percentile means that while calls outnumber puts on an absolute basis, long puts have been getting picked up at a quicker-than-usual pace in the last 10 weeks.
Drilling down to today's options pits, 71,000 calls and 11,000 puts have crossed the tape so far, which is nine times what is typically seen at this point. Most popular is the weekly 11/12 120-strike call, followed by the 115-strike call in that series. This indicates options players expect more upside for GE by the time these contracts expire at Friday's close.
Now looks like an affordable time to bet on GE with options. This is per the security's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 30%, which sits higher than just 15% of all other annual readings.