Sunedison Inc (SUNE) hit a six-year peak earlier, and weekly call buyers are rolling the dice on more upside
Unlike its sector peer
Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU),
Sunedison Inc (NYSE:SUNE) saw its price target
lifted today. Specifically, BofA-Merrill Lynch boosted its price target to $34 from $32. As such, the shares are fresh off a six-year peak of $29.53, and were last seen up 1.1% at $29.52. This isn't enough to satiate one group of option traders, though, who are calling for another notable milestone by week's end.
Drilling down, it appears as if the stock's in-the-money weekly 5/22 29-strike call is being bought to open for a volume-weighted average price (VWAP) of $0.61. If speculators are indeed initiating new long positions here, the goal is for SUNE to rally north of breakeven at $29.61 (strike plus VWAP) by this Friday's close -- when the weekly series expires. The security has not seen the north side of this breakeven mark since October 2008.
Widening the scope reveals a preference for calls over puts among options expiring in three months or less. In fact, SUNE's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.32 is docked lower than 94% of all similar readings taken in the past year. Simply stated, speculative traders have rarely been as call-heavy toward the stock as they are now.
Meanwhile, now is an opportune time to purchase premium on the equity's near-term options. In fact, Sunedison Inc's (NYSE:SUNE) Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 37% sits below 99% of similar readings taken in the last 12 months, while its 30-day at-the-money implied volatility hit an annual low earlier. Adding it all up, it appears SUNE's short-term options are attractively priced at the moment, relatively speaking.