Levi's March 21 IPO priced at $17
Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) stock is up 5.9% to trade at $23.20 today, after the apparel maker's first quarterly report as a public company raised eyebrows on Wall Street. Both first-quarter earnings and revenue exceeded analyst expectations, while its fiscal 2019 outlook also beat estimates. In response to the blowout report, options bulls have taken a greater interest in the jeans company.
More specifically, 14,000 LEVI options have changed hands today -- 12 times the expected intraday amount and volume pacing in the 100th percentile of its annual range. The May 25 call is the most active, but not far behind is the April 24 call, with new positions being opened at each. These options traders could banking on a push higher from the equity in the coming weeks and months.
But this runs converse to the early options trend seen from the security. Options trading on Levi stock began on March 27 and since then, put and call open interest has been roughly equal, with about 11,000 contracts exchanged apiece.
Levi stock had its initial public offering on March 21, pricing at $17. Since then, the shares traded as high as $24.16 on April 1, and fell to a bottom of $21.24 on April 8. Today's surge is set to be the biggest in the stock's short trading history.
