Vertiv announced strong first-quarter results
Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) stock was last seen up 16.4% to trade at $83.60, after the data center infrastructure company reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings and revenue and raised its full-year sales guidance. Vertiv, which is partnered with Nvidia (NVDA), cited strong demand for the buildout of data centers to power artificial intelligence (AI).
Today's bull gap has VRT trading at its highest level since late March. Longer term, the equity is still 48% off its January 24 record high of $155.81, and sports a 24% year-to-date deficit. The shares are testing their 50-day moving average today, a trendline that hasn't been cleared on a closing basis since a late January bear gap.
Over in the options pits, Vertiv stock has seen 28,000 calls and 9,992 puts cross the tape so far -- triple the overall options volume typically seen at this point. The weekly 4/25 90-strike call is the most popular, with new positions opening there.
This represents a shift in sentiment amongst traders, as puts were much more popular than usual leading up to today. This is per VRT's 10-day put/call volume ratio of 1.05 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), which ranks higher than 95% of readings from the past year.