Paramount Stock Stages Post-Earnings Plummet

Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA) is crashing after its disappointing first-quarter results, down 18.6% at $18.82. The company posted profits of 9 cents per share on revenue of  $7.27 billion, which is lower than the estimated 17 cents per share on $7.42 billion. Slower subscriber growth for its flagship streaming service cut into revenue, as well as advertiser's drop in spending. 

On the charts, PARA is now sitting below the $19 level, which provided support for its mid-March pullback. Today's pullback has the equity eyeing its worst daily performance since March 2021. Year-to-date, the shares are clinging to a 3% gain.

Options traders have been much more bullish than usual, per SBUX's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 4.43 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). This ratio ranks higher than 91% of readings from the past year. 

Today, however, options bulls and bears are running at the same pace, with 51,000 calls and 42,000 puts exchanged so far -- 10 times the amount typically seen at this point. The September 17.50 put is the most active, followed by the weekly 5/5 20-strike call, with new positions being bought to open at the latter.  

It's also worth noting that short interest represents 16.9% of the stock's available float. It would take nearly nine days to cover these bets, at PARA's average pace of trading.