Volume Spike Investor

By now you’ve seen the earnings release and the more important release that Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) has settled its Nokia litigation.  But what is interesting besides “just” the huge gains in the stock this morning is the volume.  After 1 hour and 10 minutes, this stock is up 16.6% at $52.27.  What is more impressive is that the volume appears to be a near-term record for 2008 and even late 2007.  We have now seen 62.4 million shares trade hands and an average daily volume is just under 22 million shares.

Trades are also fairly active in call options, but for now it is hard to tell what is new options trading and what is profit taking due to such a high open interest.  We’ve seen over 18,000 contracts trade in the AUG08 $47.50 CALLS and with a prior open interest of 46,222 contracts and shares up $5.00 from the strike you know a lot has to be profit taking.

QCOM’s 52-week trading range is $35.17 to $50.82.  Actually, that WAS the 52-week trading range.  If we back out the pre-market trading and factor in a trading slow-down on volume, we’re still on track for 110 million shares or so by today’s close.  Any major analyst calls or any new data could make that volume even much higher.

Jon Ogg
July 24, 2008