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Celgene Corporation (CELG) call buying has been a trend of late
Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) call buyers have been active lately at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). During the last 10 days at those exchanges, the stock has tallied a call/put volume ratio of 2.41, with long calls more than doubling long puts. What's more, this ratio ranks in the 65th annual percentile, pointing to a bigger-than-usual bullish bias.
Things are little different today, as calls are crossing at nearly five times the expected intraday rate, amid CELG's record high of $123.50 -- touched moments ago. At last check, the shares are still 5.4% higher at $123.30, as yesterday's better-than-expected fourth-quarter and full-year earnings estimates were met with a pair of price-target hikes overnight at SunTrust Robinson (to $141 from $121) and JMP Securities (to $133 from $117). Both brokerage firms also reiterated their ratings of "buy" and "market outperform," respectively.
Digging deeper, some calls are being bought to open today at the January 2015 120 strike and January 2016 95 strike, which are Celgene Corporation's (NASDAQ:CELG) two most active options. In so doing, the traders expect the equity to extend its run north of the strikes through the respective expiration dates.