Bloomberg reported Elliott Investment Management and Vista Partners may acquire the company
The shares of Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTXS) are up 4.4% at $100.03 this morning, after Bloomberg reported Elliott Investment Management and Vista Partners are in advanced talks to acquire the company. Though there is still uncertainty over the deal, the report said Elliott and Vista have tapped banks to finance the offer, which may be announced within the next couple weeks.
While the security still suffers from a 23.5% year-over-year deficit, a late-December bull gap helped CTXS distance itself from its Dec. 6, five-year low of $78.07. Today's pop has shares eyeing a close above its 120-day moving average, which has been putting pressure on the equity since April.
A round of bull notes could put even more wind at the stock's back. Only one analyst in coverage calls Citrix Systems stock a "strong buy," compared to four "hold" ratings, and three "sell" or worse ratings.
Options traders have taken a much more bullish stance. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), CTXS sports a 50-day call/put volume ratio of 4.62, which stands higher than 97% of readings from the last year. This means options players are picking up long calls at a much quicker-than-usual clip.
Short-term options traders also seem incredibly call-biased. This is per Citirx Systems stock's Schaeffer's put/call volume ratio (SOIR) of 0.35, which stands higher than just 8% of readings in its annual range.
Drilling down to today's options activity, 1,414 calls have crossed the tape, or triple the intraday average. Most popular is the January 100 call, followed by the 105 call in that same series. In other words, options traders expect more upside for CTXS by Friday's close, when these contracts expire.