Options Bulls Pick Up EV Stock Despite Bear Note

Rivian Automotive Inc (NASDAQ:RIVN) is down 3.8% to trade at $15.11 at last check, after Mizuho lowered its price target on the electric vehicle (EV) name to $27 from $30. The company yesterday revealed it will adopt Tesla's (TSLA) charging standard.

The brokerage bunch is bullish on RIVN, with 11 of the 18 analysts in question rating it a "buy" or better, while the 12-month consensus target price of $23.65 stands at a massive 54.1% premium to current levels. The 76.14 million shares sold short account for 9.5% of the equity's available float, however, suggesting short sellers remain firmly in control.

Drilling down to today's options activity, 75,000 calls have exchanged hands, which is four times the intraday average volume, compared to a meager 9,850 puts. Most popular is the weekly 6/23 16.50-strike call, where new positions are being opened, followed by the July 17.50 call.

This penchant for bullish bets is not unusual, per RIVN's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 4.09 over at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). This reading stands higher than all others from the last year.

The stock earlier hit its highest level since early March, after bouncing off its 60-day moving average, which emerged as an area of support in late May. Shares are still down more than 47% year-over-year, though, with 17.3% shed in 2023.