Oracle Options Heating Up Before Earnings

Here is the volume for the options expiring on March 22, 2012:

CALL$ Vol.  OpInt

29.00  3,731  2,050

30.00  5,422  4,525

31.00 5,180 4,977

PUT$  Vol.  OpInt

28.00 2,179 1,170

29.00 1,378 1,084

And here is the volume for the APRIL-2012 expiration:

CALL$ Vol.  OpInt

30.00 23,535 44,411

31.00 4,599  22,483

32.00 1,362  23,845

PUT$  Vol.  OpInt

26.00 1,598 2,578

27.00 9,315 37,565

28.00 1,778 11,358

29.00 6,645 6,076

Oracle reports on Tuesday after the close and the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate is $0.56 EPS on $9.02 billion in revenues.  The weekly options are only pricing in a move of up to about $1.00 in either direction as of Monday for the earnings report.  That might not be enough based upon the huge drop after the last earnings report.

Oracle is also in a different place than its technology peers today.  Most tech stocks are at or challenging 52-week and multi-year highs.  At $29.68 in mid-Monday trading, the 52-week trading range is $24.72 to $36.50.  The $5.00 that the stock has recovered from its lows has all been on the market’s coat tails.  Tuesday’s report sure looks like a make or break quarter.

JON C. OGG