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Blackstone Group LP (BX) will report earnings ahead of next Thursday's open
First-quarter earnings season is underway, and Blackstone Group LP (NYSE:BX) will take its place in the limelight ahead of the open next Thursday, April 16. Options traders have been piling up on calls in the weeks leading up to the big event. In fact, at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), BX's 10-day call/put volume ratio of 12.42 ranks just 2 percentage points from a 52-week peak.
Echoing this call-skewed bias is BX's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.83. Not only does it indicate call open interest outweighs put open interest among options slated to expire in three months or less, but it ranks in the 29th annual percentile. In other words, speculative traders are more call-heavy than usual toward the security.
Today, BX's weekly 5/1 37.50-strike call has received notable attention, and it appears as if some of the activity is of the buy-to-open kind. By initiating these long calls, speculators expect the stock to extend its lead north of $37.50 through the close on Friday, May 1, when the weekly series expires.
On the charts, the stock has been gaining ground since hitting an annual low of $26.56 in mid-October -- up 47% at $39. Today, however, BX is off 0.5%, despite KBW hiking its price target on the stock to $45 from $41 -- territory yet to be charted. Meanwhile, reports are circulating General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) could be on the verge of closing a real-estate deal with Blackstone Group LP (NYSE:BX) and Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC).