Today’s tickers: BID, AIG & WDC
BID - Sotheby’s Holdings Inc. – The major indices opened Wednesday in positive territory on the heels of a positive revision to fourth-quarter GDP data; however, gains proved short-lived as stocks reversed course during Fed Chairman Bernanke’s testimony to Congress. Sotheby’s shares followed the broad market trend, erasing early gains to trade 2.5% lower on the session at $38.96 as of 11:55 a.m. in New York. The auctioneer is scheduled to release fourth-quarter earnings after the final bell this afternoon, and it looks like some options players are initiating bullish positions on the stock ahead of the report. Options are most active out at the April $45 strike, where more than 1,800 calls changed hands against open interest of 900 contracts. Traders appear to have purchased the majority of the calls for an average premium of $1.02 apiece. The single largest transaction, a block of 807 of the calls, traded to the middle of the market within minutes of the opening bell at $1.05 each. Investors paying an average premium of $1.02 per contract for the call options may profit at expiration in the event that BID’s shares jump 18.1% over the current price of $38.96 to surpass the average breakeven price of $46.02. Shares in Sotheby’s last traded above $46.02 back in July 2011. The auctioneer’s shares have moved up more than 30.0% year-to-date.
AIG - American International Group, Inc. – The insurer popped up on our ‘most active by options volume’ market scanner this morning after a large block of call options changed hands in the April expiry. More than 19,300 calls in total have changed hands at the April $32 strike against open interest of just 843 contracts, with the largest stake initiated in one block of 16,445 calls…
