Cree, Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE) closed up 9.65% at $30.57 on nearly 3-times normal volume with 9.3 million shares traded against a 52-week range of $23.03 to $31.34.

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: VECO) closed up 10.15% at $29.20 on about 3.3-times normal volume with 7 million shares traded against a 52-week range of $23.06 to $57.67.

Aixtron SE (NASDAQ: AIXG) closed up 9.97% at $16.43 on more than 4-times normal volume with 2.11 million shares traded versus a 52-week range of $12.49 to $44.96.

The full analysis, details of the phase-out, and 4 or 5 other LED shares on the move are available here at 24/7 Wall St.  A Veeco stock chart from stockcharts.com has been provided below.  Stock option trading was also extremely elevated in all three names, particularly in the speculative call options.

JON C. OGG

China Automotive Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CAAS) is one that we are not going to opine about because of the issues coming out of so many Chinese companies.  Shares are at $8.04 and we saw 1,116 of the JUNE-2011 $5 PUTS trade hands.  Sound too small? The open interest was only 203 contracts.

GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) saw unusual trading roll out in June 2011 with some 7,720 contracts trade against the open interest of 2,920 contracts in the JUNE $28 CALLS.  There were also 1,000 CALLS traded in each of the $29 and $30 strikes for September.  This one has been on a tear as investors started to snap this one back up off the floor. This was under $20.00 as recently as mid-March.

Petrohawk Energy Corporation (NYSE: HK) saw some elevated trading in the JUNE $25 and $26 CALLS with over 9,000 contracts each. This appears to be more bets on the success of the new shale play. Interestingly enough, The $24 PUTS had over 10,000 contracts trade as well versus open interest of 27,259 contracts.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) showed up as most active in calls with over 100,000 traded.  It looks nothing more than a rolling out of a spread-bet on the $5.00 CALL and $5.50 CALL Strike Prices.  Combined, the two trades were almost 70% of interest in JUNE. 

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NASDAQ: TEVA) is having a hard time getting up off the ground even as Big Pharma stocks have been making a comeback.  It looks like we saw seeing naked or covered call writing with over 23,000 of the MAY-2011 $42.50 CALLS with a last trade of $7.20.  Earlier in the week was a huge close-out trade in the MAY-2011 $45.00 CALLS.  This was on options expiration date, so there was a premium capture trade.

VIVUS Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) saw unusual options trading with over 3,000 of the SEP-2011 $8 CALLS versus an open interest of 4,465 contracts; there were also over 4,600 of the SEP-2011 $10 CALLS versus an open interest of only 2,008 contracts.  No balancing trades with PUTS were seen.  This is a bet on Qnexa with shares at $8.81.

You are invited to join our free daily email distribution list from 24/7 Wall St. to hear more about options trades, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, dividend trends, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more. 

JON C. OGG

Some commentary came from CNBC that the rumors are first off called unbelievable and second that rumors of a third party financing have been refuted.  We would also throw in that the consensus analyst price target is $20.26 from Thomson Reuters.

Where we cannot refute a development is in the stock options trading. The May 2011 expiration date is MAY 20, 2011 and we have seen the following trading in Calls alone against the open interest:
CALL$ Vol.  OpInt
16.00 1,155 13,620
17.00 9,037 31,968
18.00 48,745 46,024
19.00 26,660 10,802
20.00 46,826 12,514
21.00 5,927 809
22.00 8,950 329

Just keep in mind taht Alcoa was a $30 an

JON C. OGG
1:10 PM EST

AMR Corporation (NYSE: AMR), the parent of American Airlines, saw large trading in the LEAPS… The JAN13 $3.00 PUTS saw some 8,697 options contracts trade hands.  Keep in mind that the open interest is 44,248 contracts.  The stock saw a 2% gain but the closing price was $5.87.

Coinstar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSTR) saw its stock close up 5% at $53.98 after earnings allowed shares to run, but the MAY11 CALL and PUT volume much higher.  Here is the MAY standout strike prices:
CALL$ Vol. OpInt.
50.00  5,865  11,178
52.50  995    7,161
55.00  9,614  14,394
57.50  2,926  1,788
60.00  2,467  1,600
PUTS$ Vol.  OpInt.
45.00  2,205  6,803
47.50  7,536  7,740

iShares Silver Trust (NYSE: SLV) is getting out of hand.  Stock volumes are now trading more than the whole float and the MAY11 CALLS traded nearly 150,000 CALLS on Friday versus about 100,000 MAY11 PUTS… Unfortunately, as long as silver remains the new crack for speculators then this options activity is just likely to stay high.

iStar Financial Inc. (NYSE: SFI) is one we never recall with highly unusual options trading.  This one saw 28,676 contracts trade in the JAN12 $10.00 CALLS and the prior open interest was only 19,501 contracts.  This was on the heels of it reporting its first real profit in three years.  Shares closed up 2.1% at $9.62 on 3.5 million shares versus a 52-week range of $2.70 to $10.48 and against average daily volume of almost 1.5 million shares.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) is no longer known for its great price volatility.  Options traders were braced for a move of just under $1.00 in either direction and shares closed down $0.79 at $25.92 on Friday on more than 319 million shares traded. We saw more than 18,000 contracts of the MAY11 $25.00 CALLS trade hands, almost 67,000 of the MAY11 $26.00 CALLS trade hands, and more than 36,000 of the MAY11 $27.00 CALLS trade hands.  With more than 10,000 contracts traded in other strike prices, there were more than 130,000 CALLS traded. That is about 3:2 in call call volume over total put volume.  Despite a drop and despite caution and despite a value trap, there are still those who want to be bullish.

Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPPI) saw a drop of 13% to $9.00 on more than 7.4 million shares, but this was ahead of the FDA decision.  The headlines show that FUSILEV won FDA approval for colorectal cancer.  Here were the options trades for MAY11 alone, and look for many more on Monday:
CALL$ Vol. OpInt.
9.00   1,514 6,544
10.00   3,748 5,681
11.00   6,386 7,519
12.00   1,465 2,929
13.00   1,190 1,196
PUTS$ Vol. OpInt.
6.00   1,182 3,650
7.00   3,045 6,181
8.00   3,599 6,291
9.00   1,315 3,914
10.00  1,068 1,900

Here is what you need to know… The dilution has been expected for quite some time and the details of this offering became much more clear at the start of this week.  We do not agree with necessarily every aspect of this call, but a fresh technical analysis was offered by INO in Molycorp and silver versus gold.

Shares are down 1.5% at $50.36 in the pre-market trading and we have seen more than 275,000 shares trade hands as of only 8:07 AM EST with nearly 90 minutes remaining in the pre-market.

Record volume days were as follows:

• January 24 at 11.35 million shares, $46.82 close;
• January 6 at 12.56 million, $52.86 close;
• January 4 at 14.395 million shares, $61.80 close;
• January 3 at 16.9 million shares, $57.50 close;
• December 28 at 16.67 million shares, $46.18 close;
• October 28 at 16.01 million shares; $33.89 close;
• IPO date of July 29 at 10.1 million shares; $12.85 close.

Today is very likely to challenge the record for an all-time high in share volume.  Oddly enough, not a single option strike price in Feb-2011 nor in March-2011 has an open interest of more than 10,000 contracts.

JON C. OGG

AnnTaylor Stores Corp. (NYSE: ANN) saw unbelievable options trading Friday.  At 2:30 PM EST there had already been some crazy trading in the FEB-2011 $24.00 CALLS.  We saw some 26,757 contracts trade versus an open interest of only 929 contracts.  Shares were up 2.8% at $23.67 and volume in the stock was over 3 million shares versus average volume of 2.3 million shares.  The 52-week trading range is $14.21 to $28.24.  This is about 20X on options volume and it was all one-sided with no correlated PUT volume spike anywhere close to the same magnitude.

CIENA Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) was up as a JDSU winner… Shares at 2:30 PM EST were up 11.9% at $26.36 and they hit a new 52-week high of $26.95.  Volume was 14 million shares versus 5.86 million on average, call its almost 200% above normal volume.

Coinstar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSTR) is getting shelled again after earnings, odd considering that it had already warned about its results.  When bad gets worse… at 2:30 PM EST shares were down 12% at $38.88 against a 52-week range of $25.82 to $67.56.  The trading volume was over 9 million shares versus an average volume of about 1.7 million shares.

Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE: DLB) was down 9% at $55.96 and trading volume was over 3.1 million shares versus 532,000 shares on average.  This is despite earnings and revenue growth, and call that 500% volume spike!

JDS Uniphase Corporation (NASDAQ: JDSU) was partying like it was back in 1999… Shares hit the highest levels not seen since mid-2006 after revenues were ahead of expectations.  At 2:30 PM EST shares were up almost 26% at $22.58.  Volume was over 29 million shares versus about 4.8 million shares on average.  Shares are now up 200% from the year-low.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) saw active trading after a post-earnings sell-off.  Shares were down 7.6% at $46.43 on 41 million shares versus 34 million on average. The standout volume was in the options trading.  At 2:30 there were already more than 100,000 CALLS and over 40,000 PUTS in FEB-2011 expirations alone.

NovaGold Resources Inc. (AMEX: NG) was not active in stock but was a big standout in options. The March-2011 $11 PUTS saw a whopping 39,737 options contracts trade versus an open interest of 43,880 contracts.  Shares were up 0.9% at $14.78 and this appears to be a close-out trade rather than anything sinister as only 5.8 million shares had traded against average volume of about 6.2 million shares.

JON C. OGG

Virtualization leader VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) is reporting earnings after the close on Monday and Thomson Reuters has estimates of $0.44 EPS and $803.54 million in revenues; for the next quarter estimates are $0.41 EPS and $783.7 million in revenues.  The 52-week range is $41.30 to $97.61.  The F5 Networks news took away some oomph from the stock here an dthis still trades at more than 50-times DEC-2011 fiscal earnings estimates.  Shortly after 2:00 PM EST we have seen more than twice as many PUTS as CALLS trade in the FEB11 options expiration.  Over 8,000 contracts traded on the PUTS.  The breakeven for speculative PUTS at the $85 strike: over $7.00 lower from the price of $88.79.

Networking player Juniper Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: JNPR) is due with earnings on Tuesday and Thomson Reuters has estimates of $0.37 EPS and $1.12 billion in revenues; for the next quarter estimates are $0.34 EPS and $1.09 billion in revenues. Its 52-week range is $22.25 to $38.73 and shares were at $30.54 about 90 days ago.  At $34.83, the breakeven to the closest speculative FEB11 PUT is a drop of more than $2.70 or an implied price of $31.30 or less.  As earnings will come tomorrow, look for options trading to be more precise Tuesday over Monday.

Home video delivery leader Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) is due to report earnings Wednesday and  Thomson Reuters has estimates of $0.71 EPS and $597.23 million in revenues; for the next quarter estimates are $0.88 EPS and $670.98 million in revenues.  Shares were at $194.84 just on January 18 and hit a high of $209.24 on December 1.  This was just about $150.00 about 90-days ago.  The outlook will make the difference here more than just the past.  Netflix is seeing more speculative PUT volume tahn it is CALL volume.   AT $182.00, the breakeven in PUTS would call for the stock to fall under $173.00 for the PUT option to pay off… In short, it requires a $9.00 drop to be profitable.

On Thursday comes the earnings from Jeff Bezos and firends at Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN). Thomson Reuters has estimates of $0.88 EPS and $12.98 billion in revenues; for the next quarter estimates are $0.76 EPS and $9.3 billion in revenues.  Shares recently peaked out at $191.60 before everyone saw the writing on the wall elsewhere at other hi-beta and high-flying tech stocks.  The 52-week trading range is $105.80 to $191.60 and it is going to take much more than the Kindle to justify a 52-times earnings multiple for its DEC-2011 consensus estimates. We will hold off on analyzing PUTS in Amazon until Thursday gets closer because the BEB11 actions is showing more CALLS volume by far then in PUTS.  That may be due to the Bank of America Merrill Lynch call this morning reiterating Buy and a $198 target but it may just be that there is still more than three full trading sessions before it reports earnings.  On a guess today, speculative PUT buyers would have to see a drop of close to $7.00 with shares at $177.30.  That would put the breakeven close to $170.00.

Stay tuned.  This week will be key for many of these high flying hi-beta stocks.

JON OGG

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) JAN11 $20 Call has 234,732 contracts; JAN11 $19 Call has 209,801 contracts; Share price at 11:30 $19.46.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) JAN11 $30 Call 210,520 contracts; MSFT $27.50 Call 162,676 contracts…. Share price at 11:30 $28.10.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) JAN11 $17.50 Call… 186,517 contracts; JAN11 $20 Call… 192,992 contracts; Share price at 11:30 $18.25.

Intel Corporation JAN11 $22.50 Call has 186,623 contracts; JAN11 $21.00 Call has 164,583 contracts… Share price at 11:30 $20.90.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) JAN11 $17.50 Call has 161,010 contracts; Share price at 11:30 $16.01.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) JAN11 $19 Put has 142,583 contracts and the $20 Put has 136.060 contracts; Share price at 11:30 $20.78.

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) JAN11 $30 Call… 104,257 contracts; Share price at 11:30 $32.49 so look at the $32.50: Call has 67,906 contracts and Put has 42,812 contracts.

In ETFs:

SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) JAN11 $125 Put has 358,490 contracts; Share price at 11:30 $128.74.

PowerShares QQQ (NASDAQ: QQQQ) JAN11 $54 Put has 217,276 contracts; Share price at 11:30 $56.04.

iShares FTSE China 25 Index Fund (NYSE: FXI) JAN11 $40 Call has 138,131 contracts and teh $40 Put has 136,096 contracts; Share price at 11:30 $43.45, so other strike prices matter more.

Technology Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLK) JAN11 $26 Call… 132,322 contracts; Share price at 11:30 $25.86.

JON C. OGG

The CALL options trading was far more active with more than 85,000 of the JAN11 CALLS traded versus less than 40,000 of the JAN11 PUTS traded.

Shares closed up 1.2% at $21.30 Wednesday and the 52-week trading range is $17.60 to $24.37. The bias is bullish going into earnings as far as the options are concerned and frankly the volatility here loos lower than normal as we’d assign a mere $0.50 to $0.60 expected move based upon the closing price of the closest PUTS and CALLS.

Stay tuned, maybe those figures and expectations will widen out a tad on Thursday since that is the actual earnings date.

JON C. OGG

On Friday, in the JAN11 CALLS there were nearly 45,000 combined Call option contracts versus close to 36,000 of the combined put options traded.

JAN12 $115.00 CALLS closed at $23,30 but there were 10,007 contracts traded on Friday versus a prior open interest of only 17,569 contracts.  Likely many were closed out, but we’ll know Monday.  In the JAN12 $130.00 PUTS after a $10.05 close we saw 7,110 contracts trade versus an open interest of 20,656 contracts.  Even out in the JAN13 CALLS there were a combined number of nearly 5,000 contracts which traded in the out of the money CALL strikes.

To show how crowded the gold trade is now, the $135 JAN13 CALL is the closest strike price.  Its last trade was $19.41 on Friday.  That implies that the GLD has to rise another $20.00 per share and that gold has to rise to close to $200 more per ounce by the third Friday in January of 2013 for that to break-even.

Our technical analysis affiliate is Adam Hewison of INO and he has spot gold looking oversold with $1,362 an ounce as the next support to watch.  We’d also note that S&P gave a $1,600.00 per ounce target by the end of 2011.
The other big call on energy and materials was where S&P surmised that gold would finish 2011 around the $1,600.00.  If that holds true, then $158 to $159 is what you’d expect on SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD).

Watch gold.  The GLD is not showing the active trading when you consider how much gold has pulled back.  The GDL fell to $133.58 after having closed out 2010 just a week ago at $138.72.  That is a drop of about 3.7%.  For whatever it is worth, the GLD also broke through the 50-day moving average and stayed there for the first time in months.

What is being set up will sound greatly simplified.  Unfortunately that is the way things are sometimes.  Gold is going to try to test much lower levels or we are about to see an explosive move higher.

JON C. OGG