Nike will report fiscal second-quarter earnings after the close Dec. 20
Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) is down 1.1% to trade at $163.50 at last check, despite a price-target hike from Cowen and Company to $189 from $180, as lower-than-expected retail sales data weighs on the sector today. On the charts, NKE recently broke below previous support at the $166 level, sending the stock further removed from its Nov. 5 record high of $179.10. This slump comes ahead of Nike's fiscal second-quarter earnings report, due out after the close on Monday, Dec. 20.
Ahead of the event, the options pits are pricing in a post-earnings swing of 8.7%, which is slightly higher than the 7.2% move from the company's last eight quarters. Of these reports, four of NKE's next-day sessions finished positive, including a 15.5% gain this past June, while the other half closed lower.
The brokerage bunch is very optimistic on the sports retailer. Of the 21 analysts in coverage, 18 carry a "buy" or better rating on Nike stock, with three a "hold." Plus, the 12-month consensus price target of $181.24 is a 10.9% premium to current levels.
The options pits have been much more bullish than usual in the last 10 weeks. This is per the stock's 50-day put/call volume ratio of 3.31 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), which stands higher than 98% of readings from the past year.
Drilling into today's options activity, however, puts are doubling calls, with 15,000 puts and 7,504 calls across the tape so far. Seeing the most activity today are monthly December options, which expire at the end of this week. Specifically, the December 160 put and 162.50 put from the same series appear to be the favorites.