The company's third-quarter losses, meanwhile, missed estimates by a wide margin
Shares of Etsy Inc (NASDAQ:ETSY) are surging today, last seen up 9.9% at $96.24, following the craft e-tailer's third-quarter results. The company reported a 12% pop in revenue to $594.47 million, though it also posted a sharp drop in profits to $-7.62 per share, much lower than profits of 36 cents per share expected by analysts. Really buoying the stock is Etsy's holiday-quarter forecast. The company predicts revenue to come in between $700 million and $780 million, and gross merchandise sales (GMS) between $3.6 billion and $4.0 billion.
Options traders are targeting the security today. So far, 9,224 calls and 8,406 puts have been exchanged, which is four times the intraday average. The most popular position is the November 170 call, followed by the weekly 11/4 95-strike call. Positions are being bought to open at both.
Analysts were also quick to chime in, with Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley both upwardly adjusting their price targets to $95 and $76, respectively. Conversely, four made downward adjustments, the biggest of which was a price-target cut from D.A. Davidson to $121 from $168.
Heading into today, sentiment surrounding ETSY was somewhat split. Of the 21 in coverage, nine still considered the stock a "hold," compared to 12 "buy" or better ratings. Meanwhile, the 12-month consensus price target of $115.52 is a 20% premium to current levels.
Today's inclination towards bullish bets is unusual for ETSY options traders. In the past two weeks, bears have ruled the roost with puts popular. In fact, at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), the equity sports a 10-day put/call volume ratio of 3.19 that sits higher than all but 1% of readings from the past year.
The security's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) echoes this, sitting at 1.51, which is 70% higher than all other annual readings. In other words, short-term options players are much more put-biased than usual.
In early October, ETSY broke below the formerly supportive 80-day moving average, which acted as immediate pressure for the remainder of the month. The stock looks to have found some footing at the $90 mark, though, putting it at a 6.5% six-month lead. For the year, however, Etsy stock is down 55%.