Options volume is running at 12 times the amount typically seen at this point
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) reported fiscal third-quarter earnings that missed Wall Street's expectations, and lowered its full-year earnings guidance. Though the retail pharmacy operator reported higher-than-expected revenue, its shares were last seen 9.9% lower at $28.46.
Today's bear gap on the charts puts WBA at a roughly 13-year low, as it paces for its worst-single-session percentage loss since March 2020. Over the last 12 months, the equity has shed 32.1%.
Options traders are responding to the event at a faster-than-usual clip. The 23,000 calls and 19,000 puts exchanged so far account for 12 times the average intraday volume. Most popular is the weekly 6/30 28-strike put, while new positions are opening at the the 30-strike call from the weekly same series.
For those looking to weigh in with options, premium is affordable at the moment. This is per Walgreens stock's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 35% that stands at the relatively low 33rd percentile of annual readings. Plus, WBA's Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) sits at 95 out of 100, meaning it has usually exceeded options traders' volatility expectations over the past 12 months.