Notable outperformers this morning, Roku Inc (NASDAQ:ROKU) and Airbnb Inc (NASDAQ:ABNB) are surging after their fourth-quarter results beat expectations. Roku reported losses of 24 cents per share on revenue of $1.20 billion, compared to estimates of 44 cents per shares on $1.15 billion, while Airbnb's earnings of 73 cents per share on $2.48 billion in revenue surpassed the 58 cents per share and $2.42 billion anticipated by analysts.  

At last glance, ROKU was up 15.5% at $100.29, and trading at 52-week highs as it heads for its best single-session gain since November 2023. Wells Fargo upgraded the stock to "overweight" from "equal weight" after the earnings event, while Pivotal Research raised its rating to "buy" from "hold." No fewer than 11 analysts lifted their price targets as well, including UBS to $90 from $73. Since the start of the year, the shares are already up 32.8%. 

ABNB was last seen up 14.6% at $161.58, headed for its best day ever as it jumps to its highest levels since May. Goldman Sachs upgraded to "neutral" from "sell" and Gordon Haskett upgraded to "hold" from "sell," while Baird lifted its rating to "outperform" from "neutral," and several other analysts chimed in with price-target hikes. Since the start of 2025, the online vacation rental name is up 22.3%. 

Naturally, options traders are targeting both stocks today. ROKU has seen 95,000 calls and 35,000 puts cross the tape -- 11 times its average daily options volume -- with new positions being sold to open at the most active weekly 2/14 100-strike call. ABNB has seen 102,000 calls and 46,000 puts exchanged -- 12 times the average daily volume -- with new positions being sold to open at the most popular, February 170 call. 

GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME) and Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN) shares are making outsized moves today amid Bitcoin (BTC) and earnings buzz. Let's dig deeper into the catalysts below.

GameStop Weighs Crypto

GME is up 5.4% to trade at $27.75 at last glance, following reports that the company is considering investing in cryptocurrencies, including BTC. The equity already sports an 81.5% year-over-year lead, and is on track for its biggest weekly percentage gain since late December. Overhead pressure at the $30 level and the 40-day moving average still remain, though.

Drilling down to today's options activity, 76,000 calls and 19,000 puts have crossed the tape, which is triple the intraday average volume. The weekly 2/14 30-strike call is most popular, with contracts expiring at the close.

COIN Brushes Off Earnings Beat

COIN was last seen 5.2% lower at $282.48, despite the crypto exchange platform's  top- and bottom-line win for the fourth quarter, featuring record revenue growth of 130%. Shares are brushing off five-price-target hikes, including one from Canaccord Genuity to $300 from $280. The stock boasts a solid 73.3% year-over-year lead, but has remained below the $320 level since December.

Already today, 82,000 calls and 34,000 puts have crossed the tape, which is triple the amount typically seen at this point. The most active contract by far is the February 300 call.

SoundHound AI Inc (NASDAQ:SOUN) stock is plummeting today, after a regulatory filing showed Nvidia (NVDA) dissolved its stake in the artificial intelligence (AI) voice command platform. SOUN was last seen 23.1% lower at $11.72.

Amid today's sharp drop, options traders are piling in. So far, over 111,000 calls and 87,000 puts have traded hands -- five times the usual intraday volume. The most popular contracts are the weekly 2/14 10-strike put and the July 11 call, with positions being opened at both.

Bearish sentiment has been gaining momentum for weeks. Short interest surged 27.3% in the last month, with the 101.8 million shares sold short making up 30.8% of the stock’s total available float. That’s a massive chunk of bets against a rebound, and should this pressure continue, SoundHound AI stock could see even more downside.

Today's loss puts the security on track for its largest single-session decline since June 2022, when it shed 48.4%. Though it maintains a 193.9% year-over-year lead, the security is 44.3% lower on a year-to-date basis and trading at its lowest level since early December.

 

 

You’d have to look far and wide to find an area of Wall Street not rattled by tariffs. But some sectors are at least insulated, for now, from the coming storm. Back in November, brick-and-mortar casinos saw their commercial gaming revenue fall year-over-year.

Someone forgot to tell Boyd Gaming (BYD), with the casino company last week reporting a top-line beat for the fourth-quarter. Plus, sector peer Las Vegas Sands (LVS) gapped higher by 11.1% the week prior after a fourth-quarter revenue beat overshadowed an earnings miss.

This is a great sign for Wynn Resorts, Ltd. (NASDAQ:WYNN), set to report fourth-quarter earnings after the close today. WYNN’s post-earnings history is rocky; the shares have finished lower after five of their last eight reports, including a 9.3% drawdown in November. For Friday’s trading, the options market is pricing in a post-earnings move of 7.3%, regardless of direction, which is much higher than the stock’s average next-day move of 4% in the last two years.

Wynn stock is down 6.7% in 2025, and since October has been stuck in a channel of lower lows. Nevertheless, options traders have been loading up on calls. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), WYNN's 10-day call/put volume ratio of 6.85 ranks higher than 96% of readings from the past 12 months.

WYNN has short squeeze potential, with short interest up 25.5% in the last month and a healthy 7.5% of the stock’s total available float sold short. But the shares are down 23.7% year-over-year, with a confluence of moving averages overhead.

Options look to be an attractive route to go when weighing in on the stock. The equity's Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) sits up at 97 out of 100, a boon for premium buyers. 

Shares of online real estate marketplace Zillow Group Inc (NASDAQ:Z) are up 0.7% at $78.78 at last glance, following last session's 9.4% loss. The bear gap occurred after the company's disappointing first-quarter guidance, despite strong fourth-quarter results. 

Prior to yesterday's slide, Z hit a Feb. 11 three-year high of $89.39. The stock is outperforming with a 35.1% year-over-year gain, and could soon push back toward those highs, if history is any indicator. 

Per Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White, Z has come within striking distance of its 80-day moving average after a lengthy period above it (defined by White as 80% of the time over the past two months and 8 of the last 10 trading days). This has occurred five other times over the last three years, after which the stock was higher one month later 60% of the time with an average 10.4% return. From its current perch, a move of similar magnitude would put Zillow stock at $86.97 -- much closer to its recent peak.

An unwinding of pessimism could provide tailwinds as well, should the stock start to rebound. Despite the stock's recent rally, short interest has been building for the last two weeks, and represents 6.7% of the stock's available float. It would take over four days to cover, at Z's average pace of trading.

Plus, the stock's 14-day relative strength index (RSI) of 34 is nearing "oversold" territory, while its 10-day put/call volume ratio at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) ranks higher than 91% of readings from the past year. 

Earnings season may seem like a scary time to trade stocks given the heightened chance of a volatile post-earnings move. Options can often provide speculative players the ability to invest in the stock market, but with less capital on the line than buying or shorting shares outright.

While the purchase of straight calls and puts are an appealing choice for rookie traders, more seasoned players may want to try their hand at a long straddle or long strangle during earnings season -- which allows options traders to profit on a big move in the underlying equity, regardless of direction.

How to Initiate a Long Straddle

A long straddle is created when an options trader buys to open an at-the-money call and put with the same strike and expiration date. While the purchase of both legs increases the cost of the position, it also allows the trader to profit on a big move in either direction.

To see this strategy in action, imagine stock XYZ is trading near $20 ahead of its May 1 earnings report, and the shares have a history of swinging wildly after earnings. To initiate a long straddle on XYZ, an options trader would buy a May 20 call for $1.20 and a May 20 put for $0.70, creating an initial cash outlay of $190 per spread [($1.20 call premium + $0.70 put premium) * 100 shares].

Given that there are two legs to the trade, the two breakeven points are $18.10 (strike less the net debit) and $21.90 (strike plus the net debit), meaning the options trader will profit should the stock swing south of the lower rail or north of the upper rail within the options' lifetime. Profit is theoretically unlimited to the upside, while limited to $18.10 (put strike less net debit) on a move down to zero. Risk is capped at the initial cash outlay, should XYZ stay stagnant through expiration.

Why Play a Long Strangle

A long strangle is similar to the straddle, only the call and put have different strikes. By splitting the strikes, the cost of entry will theoretically be reduced, since the options will be out of the money. However, profiting requires a much bigger move by the stock, typically, regardless of direction.

Using the same example from above, with stock XYZ trading near $20 ahead of its upcoming earnings report, an options trader would buy to open a May 21 call for $0.60 and a May 19 put for $0.45, creating an initial net debit of $1.05 per pair of options. Accounting for 100 shares per contract, this equates to an initial cash outlay of $105 for the long strangle.

The upper breakeven level for the trade is $22.05 (call strike plus net debit), while the lower breakeven rail is $17.95 (put strike less net debit). As with the long straddle, profit on the strangle is theoretically unlimited to the upside, and capped at $17.95 to the downside. Should stock XYZ stay within the two strikes through expiration, the most the options trader stands to lose is the initial cash outlay.

25 Options Trading Ideas for This Earnings Season

Considering both of these strategies require a trader to pay "double premium" by purchasing both the call and the put, it's important to take into account implied volatility (IV) -- one of the main factors in determining an options' price. Low IV roughly translates to lower-cost options -- a boon to premium buyers -- while higher IV indicates relatively rich premiums, a benefit to option sellers.

Below is a list of 25 stocks complied by Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White, which filters stocks for liquid options that had earnings between this coming Monday and March expiration. These stocks have some of the highest Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) readings, meaning they have tended to make outsized moves on the charts in the past year, relative to what the options market has priced in.

Additionally, stocks with a low Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) percentile rank have near-term options that are pricing in relatively low volatility expectations at the moment -- an added bonus to premium buyers.

*Earnings dates subject to change

Weight-loss drugs have been popular over the past couple of years, and Hims & Hers Health Inc (NYSE:HIMS), Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO), and Viking Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:VKTX) are among the most recognized names in the industry. Below, we check in with these pharma giants to see how they are faring.

HIMS Nabs Fresh Record

HIMS is up 17.5% to trade at $54.50 at last glance, and earlier nabbed a record peak of $56.71 on its way to its best single-day percentage gain since November, while sporting a 438.7% year-over-year lead. The company aired an ad during this year's Super Bowl, and is gearing up to post fourth-quarter results after the close on Monday, Feb. 24. It's worth noting the shares have a negative history of post-earnings reactions, however, finishing five of the last eight next-day sessions lower.

NVO Approaches 52-Week Lows

NVO was last seen down 3.1% to trade at $79.29, despite news that its Ozempic drug efficacy in treating some marker of alcohol disorders, according to a new study. Shares have shed 42.3% in the last nine months, and are today pacing for a fifth-straight daily loss as they approach their Jan. 17, 52-week low of $78.17. What's more, the security has struggled with overhead pressure at the $90 level since late December.

VKTX Brushes Off Bullish Coverage

VKTX is down 2.1% to trade at $28.70 at last check, on track for its fifth loss over the last six sessions after hitting its lowest level in 12 months earlier. The equity is brushing off new coverage from Scotiabank, which doled out an "outperform" rating and set its price target at $102. Shares carry a 58.3% nine-month deficit, and shed 28.5% just this year. 

Dollar Tree Inc (NASDAQ:DLTR) stock has been in a persistent downtrend over the past 12 months, shedding 48.1% of its value in that time. The security has managed only two positive months over the last year, and in November, it reached its lowest price since March 2020. However, from a contrarian perspective, DLTR has recently pulled back to a historically bullish trendline, suggesting a potential reversal opportunity.

The security just came withing one standard deviation of its 80-day moving average, a level that has previously acted as support. According to Schaeffer’s Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White, similar pullbacks occurred twice in the past three years, and both times, Dollar Tree stock posted an average one-month gain of 9.1%. If this historical trend repeats, a comparable move from its current price of $72.50 would position the stock above $79, a level it hasn’t seen since early September.

Analyst coverage remains largely neutral or bearish, with 17 out of 24 firms rating the equity a “hold” or worse. A shift in recommendations could act as a catalyst for a rally, particularly if investors begin to reevaluate their positions in the case of positive price action.

In the options pits, bearish sentiment appears elevated. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), DLTR's 10-day put/call volume ratio sits in the 72nd percentile of its annual range. This means options traders expect downside. Should the stock begin to rise, an unwinding of these bearish bets could accelerate gains.