Options traders are betting that Uber shares will pick up speed when the ride-hailing giant reports earnings Thursday afternoon.
Uber’s stock is up more than 13% in the last week as sentiment around the company improves. There are plenty of bullish wagers in the options market that the stock is gearing up for an even bigger breakout.
“Calls outweighed puts 2 times to 1, but I’d like to note that earlier in [Wednesday’s] session, that ratio topped out at about 4 times to 1. Moving ahead to this Friday, if you look at the at-the-money straddle, options are implying about an 8% move in either direction between now and then,” XP Investments managing director Bonawyn Eison said Wednesday on CNBC’s “Fast Money.”
Many of the bullish bets placed during Wednesday’s session were targeting Friday’s weekly expiration date, and the day’s most active contract was targeting the upside of that implied move.
“The trade that really popped out to me was the Aug. 7 expiration — so this Friday — 35-strike call,” Eison said. “That traded about 5,000 times for about 54 cents, putting your breakeven at $35.54, or about 7% [higher than] current at-the-money.”
Uber was trading about 3% higher Thursday afternoon.