Put buying has been more popular than usual of late in Skyworks Solutions Inc's (NASDAQ:SWKS) options pits. Specifically, the equity boasts a 50-day International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) put/call volume ratio of 0.50, which is only 3 percentage points from an annual bearish peak. Building off this point, SWKS' Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.86 is just 4 percentage points from its annual high. This means the stock's short-term speculators are way more put-focused than what's generally seen.
Today, however, it's calls that are running at an accelerated rate. It looks like traders are buying to open the weekly 5/22 96-strike call -- SWKS' most popular contract -- betting on the shares to topple $96 by the closing bell on Friday, May 22, when the options cease trading.
Analyst sentiment paints a bullish picture, as well. Of the 15 brokerage firms tracking the semiconductor stock, 13 rate it a "strong buy," leave just two "holds" and not a single "sell." On top of this, SWKS' average 12-month price target of $109.71 represents a 16.5% premium to current levels, and territory never before explored.
While Skyworks Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:SWKS) has been a long-term technical juggernaut, it's struggled more recently, dropping 8.4% since hitting its all-time high of $102.77 on March 23. At last check, SWKS was off 0.5% at $94.18.