Former CEO Bob Iger is returning to Walt Disney
The shares of Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS) are surging today, up 8.1% at $99.17 at last glance, after news that Bob Iger is returning as chief executive officer. According to CNBC, Iger has disapproved of several major decisions made by Bob Chapek, who he chose as his successor in early 2020. On the charts, the underperforming stock is down 31.6% year-to-date, and hit a two-year low of $86.28 after its weak fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report earlier this month.
Options volume is running at six times the intraday average after the news of Iger's "homecoming." So far, 155,000 calls and 110,000 puts have been exchanged. The weekly 11/25 100-strike call is the most popular, followed by the weekly 11/25 95-strike put, with new positions being opened at both.
Despite calls outnumbering puts on an absolute basis, the stock's 50-day put/call volume ratio of 0.50 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) is in the slightly elevated 71st percentile of its annual range. In other words, this suggests a healthier-than-normal appetite for long puts of late.