Falling Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc (LL) can't catch a break
Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc (NYSE:LL) took a tumble around midday to a three-year low of $24.69, ahead of the company's annual shareholders meeting, scheduled for Thursday morning. The shares have pared some of those losses, last seen 0.7% lower at $26.07, but it seems option traders are betting on additional downside.
Specifically, puts are crossing at four times the expected pace, with buy-to-open action taking place at the weekly 5/22 26-strike put. This means traders expect LL to extend losses through the close this Friday, when the options expire.
Today's slide continues LL's theme for 2015. That is, the stock has dropped almost half of its value since late February amid legal troubles. Even so, traders haven't shied away from calls. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), for instance, LL's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 1.22 lands in the 92nd percentile of its annual range.
Plus, the stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.55 ranks in the bottom quarter of all similar readings from the past year. This reveals LL's short-term speculators to be more call-focused than usual.
However, it's worth noting Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc's (NYSE:LL) 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI), which sits at 32 -- just a stone's throw from oversold territory. As such, and with one-quarter of the stock's float sold short, it's possible some of the recent call buying could be a result of shorts hedging against any unexpected upside.