Options Radar: Achillion, Cyberark, and Rocket Fuel

Three stocks seeing notable options activity today are drugmaker Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACHN), IT security firm Cyberark Software Ltd (NASDAQ:CYBR), and predictive modeling specialist Rocket Fuel Inc (NASDAQ:FUEL). Here's a look at how today's options traders have been placing their bets on these three names.

• After hitting a seven-year high of $15 shortly into the session, Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACHN) is now down 4.1% to trade at $14.24. However, this intraday deficit is negligible from a longer-term perspective, considering the shares have more than quadrupled in value since the start of the calendar year. In options land, contracts are being exchanged at a 47% mark-up to the intraday norm. Digging deeper, it looks like speculators are buying to open ACHN's weekly 11/14 15-strike call, in the hopes of higher highs through tomorrow's close, when the series expires.


• Wall Street newcomer Cyberark Software Ltd (NASDAQ:CYBR) has gapped 18% higher to $39.76 -- and earlier touched a record high of $41.30 -- after crushing expectations in the earnings confessional last night. Also helping the shares: No fewer than four brokerage firms upped their respective price targets, and one William Blair analyst commented, "Cyberark's products have direct applicability to solving the challenges related to recent high-profile breaches which is increasing the visibility and opportunity set for the company." Options traders are responding to this price action, as roughly 5,400 contracts are on the tape -- 24 times what's expected at this point in the session. Drilling deeper, CYBR is seeing buy-to-open activity at its November 40 and 45 calls, which expire next Friday evening.


• Rocket Fuel Inc (NASDAQ:FUEL) is soaring around midday, up 24% at $20.13, thanks to a successful turn under the earnings spotlight. This hasn't been missed by options traders, who have been busy today. In fact, total intraday volume is running at 22 times the typical rate. Among the most active is FUEL's deep in-the-money January 2015 15-strike call, which has seen significant buy-to-open activity, according to data from the International Securities Exchange (ISE). Elsewhere on the Street, analysts are divided toward the shares. Piper Jaffray and Needham cut their price targets on FUEL to $35 (from $40) and $25 (from $30), respectively, while maintaining the equivalent of "buy" ratings. However, Evercore lifted its target to $19 from $17, and reiterated its "hold" opinion.