Bullish?Catamaran?Call?Trades?
By Inyoung Hwang
(Bloomberg) — Block trades in bullish Catamaran Corp.
options just before the close on Friday pushed daily volume in
the contracts to the highest level since May.
Calls with exercise prices of $52.50 and $50 changed hands
at 3:21 p.m. New York time, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The
stock closed little changed at $48.32 that day and was up 25
percent on Monday as UnitedHealth Group Inc.?s OptumRx agreed to
buy the provider of pharmacy-benefit management services.
?Looks like the timing was impeccable,? said Jim
Strugger, a derivatives strategist at MKM Holdings in Stamford,
Connecticut. ?Trading in April expiry suggests they expected a
catalyst prior to expected May 1 earnings.?
Catamaran call volume climbed to more than 5,800 contracts
on Friday, 17 times greater than put trades and the most since
May 1, 2014. Two blocks of 816 and 184 April $52.50 calls
changed hands for 15 cents each, data compiled by Bloomberg
show. An identical number of April $50 calls traded at the same
time for 50 cents and 49 cents apiece. Seconds later, other
blocks of more than 100 April $50 calls changed hands for 50
cents each.
The $52.50 calls surged to $7.70 on Monday and the $50
contracts to $10.20.
This month, Kraft Foods Group Inc. options volume surged as
a block of 10,000 calls changed hands days before Berkshire
Hathaway Inc. and 3G Capital announced the purchase of the
Philadelphia Cream Cheese owner. The investor may have made more
than $19 million on the trade.
Bullish options volume also jumped on Yoox SpA this month
before the Italian online fashion retailer revived talks with
Cie. Financiere Richemont SA over a possible link-up with the
Swiss company?s Net-a-Porter unit. A record 5,979 Yoox calls
changed hands on March 11, compared with 16 puts, data compiled
by Bloomberg show. Earlier negotiations between Richemont and
Yoox stalled in 2013.