The stock is slightly higher following the news
Dollar Tree Inc (NASDAQ:DLTR) named Michael Creedon as its Chief Operating Officer (COO). Creedon formerly served as Executive Vice President of Advance Auto Parts' (AAP) U.S. stores. President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Witynski called the company's new COO "instrumental in driving the execution of our strategy." At last check, the shares of Dollar Tree were up 0.6% at $142.11.
This middling price action is nothing new for DLTR, which has been trading in a channel between its $146 and $136 levels since late-August when the stock suffered a devastating post-earnings bear gap. While the security has been able to come off some of its August lows, it's not struggling to gain traction near its year-to-date breakeven level. On the bright side, however, shares of the discount essentials retailer have added an impressive 65% in the past 12 months.
Analysts are torn on Dollar Tree, with nine saying "strong buy" and eight saying "hold" or worse. Meanwhile, short sellers have been piling on. Short interest has risen 27.9% in the last reporting period, though the 6.79 million shares sold short make up just 3.1% of the stock's available float.
Options traders have taken a much more bullish stance. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), DLTR sports a 10-day put/call volume ratio of 3.28, which stands higher than 88% of readings from the past year.
Echoing this, the stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.48 stands in the 14th percentile of its 12-month range. In other words, short-term options traders are much more call-biased than usual right now.