Options bears are not missing the opportunity to chime in
Lucid Group Inc (NASDAQ:LCID) is sinking, last seen down 18.1% to trade at $11.07, after the electric vehicle (EV) maker posted wider-than-expected third-quarter losses, as well a revenue miss. The company noted canceled orders and fears around long waiting periods negatively impacted quarterly results , with orders totaling 34,000 -- down 3,000 reservations from the previous quarter. Lucid also announced plans to raise $1.5 billion through a share sales program and additional investment from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.
Options traders are chiming in full-force, with 82,000 calls and 136,000 puts across the tape so far, or three times the average intraday volume. The most popular contract is the December 10 put, followed by the 12 put in that same monthly series, with new positions being opened at both.
Meanwhile, short-term options traders have been incredibly call-biased, given LCID's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.79 stands higher than only 3% of annual readings. A further unwinding of bullish bets could pressure the equity even lower.
Short sellers have been jumping on the Lucid stock of late, too. In fact, short interest is up 4.8% over the two most recent reporting periods, and the 132.69 million shares sold short make up 8.3% of the stock's available float, or more than one week's worth of pent-up buying power.
The shares are today pacing for their third-straight daily loss, as well as their worst day since December. The security also slipped to a roughly two-year low of $10.80 earlier in the session, breaching a recent floor at the $12 level. Year-to-date, LCID has shed over 70%.