Coca-Cola reported first-quarter earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street's estimates
Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO) stock is up 2% at $66.55 at last check, earlier hitting a record high of $67.20, after the blue-chip beverage giant reported first-quarter earnings of 64 cents per share, which beat Wall Street's estimates. The company's $10.50 billion in revenue for the quarter also beat forecasts, as unit case volume increased 8% amid rising demand Coke products, Powerade, and Costa Coffee. Coca-Cola maintained its outlook as well, even as geopolitical headwinds and inflation challenges loom large.
Options traders are blasting Coca-Cola stock in the options pits today. So far, more than 41,000 calls and 27,000 puts have crossed the tape, which is four times what is typically seen at this point. The most popular contract is the weekly 4/29 67-strike call, followed by the 65-strike put from the same series, with positions being opened at both.
While calls have outnumbered puts on an overall basis, the latter have been unusually popular of late. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), the stock's 50-day put/call volume ratio sits in the 98th percentile of its 12-month range.
Echoing this, short-term options traders have been much more put-biased than usual. This is per Coca-Cola stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.76, which stands higher than 76% of readings from the past year.
Coca-Cola stock's rally over the last month has been nothing short of impressive, with the equity's 10-day moving average providing solid guidance during this time period. Fresh off its sixth-straight weekly win, KO is up 12.9% in 2022 and boasts a roughly 20% year-over-year lead.