Akamai Options Volume Stands Out (AKAM)

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) looks harmless enough today in its trading as the stock is up about 1.5% at $37.20.  That is on only 1.3 million shares against a normal day’s volume of over 4 million shares.  Where this gets interesting is in the call options trading volume.

We have seen 1,210 call options in the March 2012 $37 strike price trade against a prior open interest of only 1,401 contracts.  It is the April call options where he volume gets interesting.  We have seen 4,664 of the April $40 Calls trade against 543 contracts in the prior open interest.  There has also been some 2,008 contracts trade in the April $41 Calls against a prior open interest of 215 contracts.

We have not seen any fresh rumors, nor do we want to propagate any new rumors.  That being said, Akamai has been a rumored takeover target at many points in the past as it is the internet’s content acceleration machine.  It physically locates and hosts content at centers closer to online media users to accelerate the speed.

We did find one other issue out there: The blog at Schaeffer’s noted, “Call volume has skyrocketed today on Akamai Technologies, Inc., with roughly 10,000 contracts changing hands so far. As a point of comparison, AKAM’s average daily call volume totals fewer than 2,900 contracts — and only 956 puts have crossed the tape, at last look.”

JON C. OGG