Home Depot is withholding its full-year outlook
The shares of blue-chip home retailer Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) are falling this morning, last seen down 4.3% to trade at $320.61, after the company reported second-quarter earnings results. Despite beating Wall Street's top- and bottom-line forecasts, Home Depot's same-store sales missed estimates, as customers shift away from do-it-yourself projects amid easing coronavirus restrictions. In addition, the company withheld its full-year outlook, saying it was unable to predict how the Covid-19 pandemic and new variants will effect consumer spending.
On the charts, Home Depot stock is set to snap a three-day winning streak. Further, HD just breached its 20-day moving average, which has helped guide shares higher since mid-June. The stock is now testing support at the 100-day moving average, which caught a pullback in early June.
The equity is seeing a post-earnings options barrage, today. Already, over 12,000 puts and 10,000 calls have crossed the tape, which is six times what's typically seen at this point. The weekly 8/20 320- and 315-strike puts are the two most popular, meaning put traders see plenty of downside for Home Depot stock by the time these contracts expire at the end of the week.
Bullish bets, meanwhile, have been all the rage over the last 10 weeks. This is per Home Depot stock's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 2.54 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), which stands higher than 97% of readings from the past 12 months, indicating a much healthier-than-usual appetite for long calls of late.