Most Active Weekly Options: Delta Air Lines, Inc. and Yahoo! Inc.

Weekly options have been hot on Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO)

Jun 22, 2015 at 2:36 PM
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The 20 stocks listed in the table below have attracted the highest total weekly options volume during the past 10 trading days. Names highlighted are new to the list since the last time the study was run, and data is courtesy of Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White. Two names of notable interest are airline issue Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) and Internet name Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), which are both slated to host their annual shareholder conferences this week.

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DAL -- which will hold its annual event this Thursday -- is up 1.7% at $42.71 this afternoon, as a bullish write-up in Barron's over the weekend overshadows a cybersecurity attack at one of its international peers. Today's positive price action comes as a welcome change to the stock's longer-term trajectory, with the shares off 16% from their late-January record peak of $51.06.

Unlike analysts, option traders have kept the faith, and at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), they have bought to open 9.73 calls for each put over the past 10 sessions. What's more, this ratio rests higher than all other readings taken in the past year, meaning long calls have been initiated over puts at an annual-high clip.

In the weekly 6/26 series -- which expires at this Friday's close -- peak call open interest is found at the 43.50 strike, where more than 10,000 contracts reside. It looks like a significant number of positions were bought to open last Friday, meaning speculators are betting on Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) to extend its lead north of $43.50 through week's end.

Ahead of YHOO's annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday, the stock is up 0.5% at $40.73 -- paring its year-to-date deficit to 19.4%. However, today's upside appears to be running out of steam near the security's 10-day moving average, a trendline that has been ushering YHOO lower since mid-May.

Skepticism has been building toward YHOO in recent months, per the stock's 50-day ISE/CBOE/PHLX put/call volume ratio of 0.44, which ranks in the 98th percentile of its annual range. In other words, puts have been bought to open over calls with more rapidity just 2% of the time within the past year.

Drilling down on the weekly 6/26 series, peak put open interest of roughly 3,300 contracts resides at the 40.50 strike. Today, the strike appears to be seeing mostly buy-to-open activity. For those purchasing the puts, the goal is for Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) to settle the week south of $40.50.
 

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