Investing

10 Stocks With Heavy Call Flow

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Many investors ignore options because they can be confusing, and there can be multiple implications from a single data point. However, traders looking for opportunities often like to see their thesis line up with unusual options activity.

But when large traders or investors like hedge funds and investment firms make their moves, they can often leave their footprints behind. Those footprints show up in the form of outsized options activity in the underlying stocks.

With that in mind, let’s look at 10 stocks with some heavy call flow over the last week.

AbbVie (ABBV)

AbbVie tops our leaderboard this week in more ways than one. AbbVie (US:ABBV) ranked No. 1 on not only Fintel’s Call Flow Leaderboard but also the largest company on our list today, with a $250 billion market cap.

Broken up over two trades, AbbVie had someone scooping up $4.57 million in call premium on two separate blocks. Good for more than $9 million in premium, this trader took a rather sizable trade on Sept. 15.

However, it appears to be a long-term approach, with the calls expiring in June 2024 or more than 600 days. They were also the $135 strike, which was about in the money at the time of the trade. The firm may be using this position instead of common stock.

While they’ll miss out on AbbVie’s near 4% dividend yield, their risk is limited to the premium paid — or about $9.14 million.

Linde (LIN)

We saw a similar trade with Linde (US:LIN). On Sept. 16, a trader split an order between two businesses, scooping up $3.57 million worth of January 2024 $270 calls.

IThetrader spent $7.155 million on the trade, taking an in-the-money position in LIN stock. While they bought the $270 calls, shares were trading at roughly $280 at the time or about $10 in the money.

Mondelez (MDLZ)

Rondelez (US:MDLZ) stands out with a long-dated, heavy premium trade. Ranking third on the Options Flow Leaderboard

With almost 500 days until expiration, a trader stepped into the January 2024 $57.50 call options, scooping up 8,000 contracts and dropping $6.84 million in premiums.

Like Linde and AbbVie, this trade was also in-the-money, with Mondelez stock trading near $60 at the time.

Cisco Systems (CSCO)

Next is Cisco Systems (US:CSCO), which had trades generating $6.2 million in premiums across two trades. Those trades totaled 10,000 contracts for the $42.50 calls expiring in January 2024.

Perhaps the trader or firm felt that after a 5.8% one-day rally on earnings in mid-August, the roughly 14% decline from the post-earnings high was too much. They purchased slightly in-the-money calls.

McDonald’s (MCD)

It’s similar to McDonald’s (US:M CD), which has given up all of its earnings gains from its rally in late July.

This trader bought 2,000 $260 calls expiring in January 2024 (or in almost 500 days) for nearly $5.5 million in premium.

The McDonalds’ calls are slightly out-the-money, with the underlying shares trading around $ 255McDonald’s common stock trading just below $255.

Williams Companies (WMB)

The above stocks round out the top five and as we get into the back half of the list, we lead with Williams Companies (US:WMB). This one is interesting for two reasons.

Someone bought a slug of long dated calls just in the money, buying $4.86 million worth of $30 calls expiring in June 2023. That order crossed on Sept. 20, with Williams’ shares trading around $31.50.

Another interesting order crossed on Sept. 14 when someone bought 11,576 contracts of the $35 calls, spread across four orders. The buyer took the position just over a month ahead of their expiration, implying the buyer’s belief the shares are poised for a pop.

That was good for a little more than $400,000 in premium.

Dollar General (DG)

Dollar General (US:DG) finds itself on the list at No. 7 after a deep-in-the-money trade went through.

A trader swooped in and bought 2,500 of the $220 calls expiring in June 2023. Those calls were $25 in the money, giving the position a delta of 0.74 at the time of the trade. That was also against open interest of 0, meaning no positions were held in that particular contract the morning the trade took place.

As of Sept. 20, no one else had an open position in the contract.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)

A favorite among traders, it’s no surprise to find Advanced Micro Devices (US:AMD) on the list. But look at the options flow in this one. It’s not a single trade or two that caught our attention here or ranked it on the top 10 list.

Investors bought almost $1 million of put options on Sept. 20, three days ahead of their Friday expiration.

Call buyers shopped selectively, with one buyer for $560,000 of the October $75 calls and another spending $3.52 million for December $95 calls.

Ralph Lauren (RL)

Ralph Lauren (US:RL) is the smallest name on this list, with a $6.3 billion market cap. Perhaps that makes the recent options activity even more significant.

With about a month until expiration, someone bought $3.93 million worth of calls. Specifically, the $95 calls expiring in October were purchased slightly out of the money.

T-Mobile Us (TMUS)

We have T-Mobile (US:TMUS) rounding out the top 10.

That’s after one trader bought $3.77 million in premium with the slightly out-of-the-money January 2024 $150 calls.

With almost 500 days until expiration, this trader ihopesthis year’s best-performing US telecom stock can continue its push higher, even amid rising volatility in the stock market.

This article originally appeared on Fintel

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