Sea's fourth-quarter results blew Wall Street's expectations out of the water
Sea Ltd (NYSE:SE) is surging today, last seen up 22.3% at $80.73, after the tech name reported its first quarterly profit, which came in at $ $1.29 cents per share -- beating Wall Street's expectations for the fourth quarter. The company announced a revenue beat as well, and attributed the results to the cost cuts implemented to curb slowing demand.
Overall options volume is running at 13 times the intraday average so far, with 145,000 calls and 65,000 puts traded. Most popular is the weekly 3/10 80-strike call, where new positions are being opened.
That penchant for calls has been the norm lately. Over at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), the equity's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 2.40 sits higher than 83% of readings from the past 12 months.
Short sellers are hitting the exits, with short interest down 6.3% in the most recent reporting period. The 23.19 million shares sold short still make up 5.1% of the stock's available float, or over one week's worth of pent-up buying power. Should pessimism continue to unwind, shares could extend their surge.
Sea stock is today trading at its highest level since mid-August, while looking to string together its fourth-straight win and best percentage daily gain since November. Shares are also looking to conquer overhead pressure at the 240-day moving average for the first time since December 2021.
