The clean energy name announced it will supply Walmart with liquid green hydrogen
Plug Power Inc (NASDAQ:PLUG) stock is moving higher this morning, last seen up 4.7% to trade at $26.75. The alternative energy company just announced an agreement to supply up to 20 tons of liquid green hydrogen per day to blue-chip retail giant Walmart (WMT). The latter plans to use the hydrogen to power its material handling lift trucks.
Options traders are swarming PLUG in response to the news. Options volume is running at four times the intraday average, with more than 21,000 calls and 7,719 exchanging hands so far. New positions are being opened at the two most popular contracts, the weekly 4/22 27- and 30-strike calls, indicating the potential upside these traders see for the shares by Friday's close.
A broader look shows options traders have favored puts over the last 10 weeks. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), PLUG's 50-day put/call volume ratio ranks higher than 90% of readings from the past year, suggesting a healthier-than-usual appetite for long puts.
The good news for these traders is Plug Power stock's Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) stands at 94 out of 100. In other words, the security has exceeded options traders' volatility expectations in the last year.
It's also worth noting that short interest is beginning to unwind, down 5.4% in the most recent reporting period. The 65.46 million shares sold short account for 12.6% of the stock's available float, or just over three day's worth of pent-up buying power.
In October, PLUG saw a similarly large pop after revealing partnerships with Airbus (AIR) and Phillips 66 (PSX). Those key deals helped the shares hit annual highs, before failing at the $46.50 level in mid November, and eventually falling to a two-year low of $17.51 January 2022. However, today's positive price action has brought Plug Power stock's year-to-date deficit down to 5.4%.