VRX shares have been more volatile than the options market has expected during the past year
Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) shares are trading 2% higher today at $12.59, after
Bloomberg reported the company is in talks to sell Bausch & Lomb's eye-surgery business. Options traders have been quick to respond, with buy-to-open activity possibly taking place at the weekly 6/9 13-strike call, and the June 14 call. If long positions are being initiated here, traders are betting VRX stock will topple the strikes before the options' respective expirations at this Friday's close, and the close on Friday, June 16.
Call buying has been the norm on Valeant stock for some time. In fact, the shares have a 50-day call/put volume ratio of 2.82 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), which is an annual high.
But no matter if it's calls or puts you're targeting, it's a good time to buy premium on VRX. This is according to the equity's
Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 54%, which is just 10 percentage points from an annual low -- hinting at unusually low volatility expectations being priced into near-term options. Plus, Valeant has a Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) of 89, showing it's regularly exceeded options traders' volatility expectations during the past year.
Turning back to the charts, VRX shares have bounced back since bottoming at an eight-year low near $8.30 back on April 24. More recently, Valeant stock has been trading around its flattening 100-day moving average, and has trimmed its year-to-date deficit to 13%.