Bulls Storm Surging Novavax, Inc. (NVAX)

Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX) is gaining fast today, adding 8.8% to land at $8.25, thanks to a "buy" initiation and $10 price target from Citigroup. Also, the brokerage firm expressed optimism over a pair of vaccines the company is developing. Call buying has since picked up in the stock's options pits, with the contracts crossing at an 80% mark-up to usual intraday volumes. The most popular contract by a wide margin is the April 8 call, and data gives the impression of buy-to-open activity. These traders are betting on the shares to move further above the $8 level by the close on Friday, April 17, when the options expire.

It's not a surprise to see NVAX's traders rushing to pick up calls. According to the stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.40 -- which ranks in the 8th percentile of its annual range -- short-term speculators are more call-skewed than normal.

Analysts have made their positive feelings on the stock clear, with all five covering brokerage firms rating it a "strong buy." Also, Novavax, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:NVAX) average 12-month price target of $10.38 stands in territory not charted in roughly 13 years. Year-to-date, NVAX has added 39%.