Mattel said that supply chain disruptions will not affect its holiday season
The shares of Mattel Inc (NASDAQ:MAT) are up 3.3% to trade at $21.01 at last check, after the company reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings and revenue. Plus, the toy giant stated that supply chain disruptions will not affect its strong upcoming holiday season. To follow, J.P. Morgan Securities raised its price target to $31 from $28.
Today's positive price action has Mattel stock jumping above pressure at several long-term moving averages, including the 120-day trendline. Earlier rising as high as $21.90, the equity neared the $22 level, which provided a ceiling for the stock's rally attempts in August and September. Year-over-year, MAT is up around 62%.
Shorts have been building their positions, with short interest up 21.7% during the two most recent reporting periods, now making up 6% of the stock's available float. In other words, it would take nearly eight days to buy back these bearish bets, at MAT's average pace of trading.
Drilling down to today's options activity, it looks like calls are extremely popular. So far 15,000 calls have crossed the tape, which is eight times the intraday average, compared to 2,213 puts. The weekly 10/29 22-strike call is the most popular, followed by the weekly 10/22 21-strike call, with positions being opened at the former.