Defense Stock Still Has More Room to Run

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:KTOS) stock was last seen down 1.1% to trade at $22.52, cooling off from the three-year peak of $23.18 it notched earlier. The security sports a 47.5% year-to-date lead, with long-term support from its 200-day moving average containing multiple pullbacks this year. The even better news is that KTOS' peak comes amid low implied volatility (IV) -- a combination that usually precedes tailwinds.

There were four times in the past five years when the stock was trading within 2% of its 52-week high, while its Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) ranked in the 20th percentile of its annual range or lower, per Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White. This is now the case with the equity's SVI of 31%, which sits in the low 2nd percentile of its 12-month range.

White's data shows that just one month after these signals, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions stock was higher 50% of the time, averaging a 4.1% pop for that time period. From its current perch, a move of similar magnitude would place KTOS just shy of $24.

Options traders are already overwhelmingly bullish. Over at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), the security's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 108.16 stands higher than all but 2% of readings from the past 12 months.