Options Bulls Charge Facebook, Inc. (FB)

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) call buyers have been active of late. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), the stock has racked up a 50-day call/put volume ratio of 2.43, which is higher than 77% of all comparable readings from the past year.

Today is no different, as FB calls are trading at a 30% mark-up to the normal intraday pace. One contract seeing significant attention is the February 75 call, where buy-to-open activity has been detected. Traders purchasing this in-the-money call are hoping for FB to eclipse the at-expiration breakeven price of $76.45 (strike plus volume-weighted average price of $1.45) by the close on Friday, when the contracts cease trading.

On the Street, analysts are mostly bullish toward the shares. Of the 29 brokerage firms tracking FB, 23 rate it a "strong buy," with four giving it a "buy" rating, and the remaining two issuing "hold" recommendations. Also, the stock's consensus 12-month price target of $91.34 represents a 19.3% premium to current trading levels -- and sits in territory yet to be charted.

From a technical perspective, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has been a laggard in 2015, with breakout attempts thwarted at the $78 level. Moreover, since touching an all-time high of $82.17 on Dec. 23, the equity has dropped nearly 7%. FB was last seen 1.3% higher at $76.56.