Recent FIT option buyers have fared well amid the stock's slide
Fitbit Inc (NYSE:FIT) is exploring all-time lows, after the company
priced a stock offering at $29 per share -- a discount to Thursday's close at $31.68. As such, FIT is down 10.8% at $28.27 -- on pace for its fifth straight drop -- and just touched a record low of $27.32. What's more, FIT options are flying off the shelves again today -- and recent option bears are basking in the glory.
Intraday option volume is running at four times the typical pace, and it looks like short-term bears are buying to open the November 32 put at a volume-weighted average price (VWAP) of $4.10. As such, the buyers will profit the deeper FIT sinks beneath $27.90 (strike minus VWAP) by the close next Friday, Nov. 20, when front-month options expire.
On Thursday, FIT puts traded at four times the average daily rate, more than doubling calls -- and many of those bears just made a killing. Weekly options expiring today were all the rage, accounting for the 10 most active options. Digging deeper, the weekly 11/13 34-strike put saw the biggest open interest increase, with
buyers betting on a continued slide south of $34 through today's close. Those bets are paying off today: yesterday, the puts traded at a VWAP of $1.57; today, that's more than tripled to $5.41.
While FIT has been relegated to the short-sale restricted list, there are plenty of shorts also cheering the stock's slide. In fact, short interest accounts for nearly 43% of FIT's total available float, and would take more than six sessions to buy back, at the equity's average daily trading volume.
As alluded to earlier, it's been an
abysmal month for Fitbit Inc (NYSE:FIT). The shares have surrendered roughly 30% of their value, and have dropped roughly 25% this week alone. Elsewhere, watchmaker Fossil Group Inc (NASDAQ:FOSL) is exploring new lows of its own, even after unveiling
plans to jump into the wearable fitness market.