Volume Spike Investor

There is a high amount of options activity ahead of Hansen Natural Corp. (NASDAQ: HANS) earnings today.  The trade may just be a close-out of an old straddle play that had been put on and was closed out, but the open interest data we have doesn’t entirely add up for that as you will see below:

OPTIONS/STRIKE        Volume    OpInt
AUG08 $35.00 CALLS  18,419    3,834
AUG08 $35.00 PUTS    18,350    20,552

The interest in these two contracts has more volume than all other near-strike options out on the calendar combined.   The stock isn’t getting any massive ripples ahead of the earnings and shares are down 1% at $21.60 on more than 2.8 million shares at 12:35 PM EST.

For whatever it is worth, traders must be expecting dismal numbers ahead because this stock is barely above its 52-week lows ($21.35 to $68.40 yearly trading range).

Jon C. Ogg
August 7, 2008