Eastman Kodak has been thrust into supply and demand recovery with its new loan
The shares of Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE:KODK) are soaring today, earlier hitting a fresh all-time high of $60, after it was reported that the company secured a Letter of Interest for a $765 million loan from the U.S. government. Eastman Kodak will use the money to speed up the development of Kodak Pharmaceuticals, which will address a national shortage of critical pharmaceutical components. At last check, KODK is up 378.5% to trade at $37.99.
Since early March, KODK had been unable to topple the $3 level, but the equity tripled out of nowhere during trading yesterday to begin its rapid ascent up the charts. Now up an incredible 1,547.6% year-over-year, Eastman Kodak stock looks to be eyeing its first-ever close above its 40-month moving average.
Meanwhile, over 47,000 calls and 192,000 puts have exchanged hands -- an incredible 71 times the intraday average and volume pacing, unsurprisingly, in the highest percentile of its annual range. Most popular is the August 2.50 put followed closely by the 5-strike put from the same series, with new positions being opened at both.
From a broader perspective, a look at Eastman Kodak's options pits shows puts decimating calls in the last 10 days, with 22,395 puts exchanged as opposed to 3,681 calls. What's more, KODK's Schaeffer's open interest ratio (SOIR) of 2.07 implies short-term options traders have rarely been more put-biased.