The home goods stock reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue
The shares of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM) are up 7.6% at $108.96 at last check, and earlier hit an all-time-high of $114, after the home goods retailer reported third-quarter earnings of $2.56 per share -- much higher than Wall Street's estimates of $1.53 per share -- as well as a revenue beat. The company attributed the upbeat results to sustained strength and growth in online demand. As a result, the security has earned no fewer than eight price-target hikes, including a lofty one from Wedbush to $130 from $115.
On the charts, William Sonoma stock has more than quadrupled off its March 18, nine-year low of $26.01. The stock has been tearing up the charts since April, today finally breaking past resistance at the $105 level, with support from the 100-day moving average over the last several months. Longer term, WSM sports a 58.5% year-over-year lead.
Analysts were pessimistic toward William Sonoma stock coming into today, leaving plenty of room for upgrades and/or additional price-target hikes going forward. Of the 14 in question, 10 carried a tepid "hold" or worse rating. Plus, the security's 12-month consensus target price of $105.12 is still a 3.4% discount to current levels.
Digging deeper, a short squeeze could create additional tailwinds for the security. Short interest is up 5.6% in the most recent reporting period, and the 6.74 million shares sold short account for a hefty 8.8% of the stock's available float, or over a week's worth of pent-up buying power.
The options pits lean majorly optimistic, however, with calls popular. This is per the security's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 3.06 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), which sits higher than 84% of readings from the past year. In simpler terms, calls are being picked up at a quicker-than-usual clip.
That optimism still rings true today. So far, 11,000 calls have crossed the tape, which is nine times the average intraday amount, and more than four times the number of puts traded. The expiring November 105 call is the most popular, followed by the 110 call in the same monthly series, signaling investors expect to see continued upside for WSM through the end of the day.