Alphabet stock is surging after beating third-quarter earnings estimates
Shares of Google parent Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) are on the rise today, after the tech giant beat third-quarter earnings and revenue expectations following a 35% rise in cloud revenue. The company's cloud division saw a boost from artificial intelligence (AI) buzz, which has, of course, been a long-term focus. In his remarks, CEO Sundar Pichai said AI investments are "paying off."
At last glance, GOOGL was up 5.6% at $179.20, earlier as high as $182.02, with the stock jumping $150 billion in value straight out of the gate. Today's bull gap has shares breaking above the $170 level, which acted as pressure since early August, after they yesterday closed above the 100-day moving average for the first time since then. Year to date, the equity is up 28.3%.
The stock's options pits are buzzing even more than usual today, with 357,000 calls and 171,000 puts exchanged so far -- more the double the usual daily volume. The weekly 11/1 180-strike call is the most popular, with new positions opening there.
This bullish-leaning sentiment amongst options traders isn't unusual, as calls have been much more popular than puts over the last 10 weeks. This is per GOOGL's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 2.98 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), which ranks higher than all other readings from the past year.