Today’s tickers: CLGX, XLY, JDSU & FNF
CLGX - CoreLogic, Inc. – Options volume on the provider of business support services has ballooned to more than twice the number of existing positions on the stock, with calls changing hands more than 20 times for each single put option in action. The spike in demand for calls is no surprise given the 28.6% rally in CoreLogic’s shares to $11.30 today, on news the company hired Greenhill & Co. to help it consider various options that could include putting itself up for sale. Increased activity in CLGX options sent implied volatility on the stock screaming higher to 66.48%, a 79.3% gain over yesterday’s close. Much of the nearer-term positioning in CoreLogic call options today appears to be the work of bullish investors expecting the price of the underlying to continue higher. But, open interest patterns in the calls suggest not all players acted after news of Greenhill & Co.’s hire hit the stands. It looks like some traders picked up 445 of the October $10 and 550 of the Jan. 2012 $10 strike call options yesterday for an average premium of $0.14 and $0.40 apiece, respectively. The values of these positions no doubt exploded overnight, with buyers of these options now paying around $1.53 and $1.64 for the right to purchase shares in CLGX at $10.00 come expiration day in October and January 2012. Although overnight success stories such as these tend to raise an eyebrow or two, there is no evidence as yet to indicate call buyers knew what was coming to them today.
Meanwhile, new bullish stances were initiated on the stock across all available expiries. Call buyers took to the $10 and $12.5 strikes expiring in September and October to presumably get in on the way up. Sizable…
