Today’s tickers: JBLU, NWA, BBH, BIIB, RIGL, C, LEH, WM, COST, VIX
JBLU – Consolidation-mongerers finally got their fix today on news that Europe’s second-biggest airline, Lufthansa, bought a 19% minority stake in discount carrier JetBlue. Trading was halted on JetBlue shares earlier in the day, but stocks quickly advanced 14% on the report, closing at $7.15 this afternoon. Options in the airline traded at more than 9 times the average volume, and we observed plenty of fresh longs, not just in calls but in puts. A wave of buying in the December $7.50 on volume surpassing existing open interest by some 60% suggests bullish implications for its share price for the next couple of weeks. But we also noted a wave of fresh put buying at the distressed January 5.0 strike - a bitter reminder of the battering JetBlue’s share price has taken this year as the company struggled to hedge against rising fuel prices. JetBlue shares were coasting at around $12 to start this year, declining to a $9 plateau from August to late October, and then dipping below the $7 mark until today’s news out of Lufthansa.
NWA – Let it be said that the airline space continues to search in vain for a lift these days, and the Lufthansa-JetBlue report had little in the way of significant positive follow-through for other major carriers. Option volume in Northwest Airlines accelerated to more than 12 times the normal level as a trader appeared to roll over an existing position in the December 15 puts into the same strike in the January contract. The move occurred as Northwest shares closed 1.23% lower at $16.00. The price of the January put position requires a test of the $14 level – that’s the existing 52-week low – just to break even, and current premiums reflect a one-in-three chance at that coming true. At least one major investment bank agrees with this dour outlook for major airlines, with a Morgan Stanley downgrade of Northwest, Delta and US Airways citing eroding prospects for leading carriers as long as upside catalysts in the form of consolidation or lower fuel prices continue to elude the industry.
BIIB – Biogen Idec – Option volume in Biogen Idec, the maker of drugs for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and multiple sclerosis, tripled on premarket news that Biogen will withdraw plans to pursue a buyer, as no possible suitors were forthcoming. The announcement sent its share price hurtling 23.7% lower to $57.85. A look at the 120,000 options in play shows volume of 9,405 lots in the January 50 puts sold as the value of this contract increased 550% on the session. Selling in Biogen’s January 60 calls suggests that some traders may be looking to short volatility in anticipation that the share price will remain between the $50-60 range (around current levels) into January – not a very temperamental range, considering that its shares have traded as high as $84.75 and as low as $42.86 over the past year.
