Unusual Options Activity Thur 12/14/23

The following options are exhibiting notable trading, potentially indicating changing sentiment toward the underlying stocks, and/or potentially representing positioning for increased volatility.

Bullish Call Activity:

• GS Dec 385 calls (volume: 8140, open int: 2, implied vol: ~35%, prev day implied vol: 28%). Underlying stock is higher by 6%. Co is confirmed to report earnings January 16 before the open.
  
• CG Jan24 45 calls (volume: 2640, open int: 0, implied vol: ~29%, prev day implied vol: 22%). Underlying stock is higher by 7%. Co is expected to report earnings early February.
• INFY Jan24 19 calls (volume: 1670, open int: 0, implied vol: ~27%, prev day implied vol: 22%). Underlying stock trading higher by 5%.

Bearish Put Activity:

• SEDG Dec 91 puts (volume: 2390, open int: 3, implied vol: ~127%, prev day implied vol: 61%). Underlying stock trading higher by 16%. Co is expected to report earnings mid-February.
• BHC Jan24 6 puts (volume: 9040, open int: 0, implied vol: ~77%, prev day implied vol: 67%). Co is expected to report earnings late February.
  

Sentiment: The CBOE Put/Call ratio is currently: 1.01, VIX: (12.36, +0.17, +1.4%).
December 15 is options expiration -- the last day to trade December equity options.

Carl Icahn discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F filing

Exited LNG HRI positions, Increased SWX IEP

Highlights from Q2 2023 filing as compared to Q1 2023:

• Increased positions in: IEP (to ~334.49 mln shares from ~300 mln shares), SWX (to ~10.84 mln from ~10.52 mln)
• Maintained positions in: CVI (~71.2 mln shares), BHC (~34.72 mln shares), XRX (~34.25 mln shares), NWL (~29.99 mln shares) DAN (~14.29 mln shares)
• Closed positions in: LNG (from ~1 mln shares), HRI (from ~0.23 mln)
• Decreased positions in: FE (to ~14.09 mln shares from ~18.97 mln shares)

-=Bausch Health (BHC) reported earnings on Tue 7 Aug 2018 (b/o)

Bausch Health beats by $0.13, beats on revs; reaffirms FY18 revs guidance, raises Adj-EBITDA outlook 

• Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.93 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.13 better thanthe Capital IQ Consensus of $0.80; revenues fell 4.7% year/year to $2.13 bln vs the $2.06 bln Capital IQ Consensus. GAAP EPS was ($2.49) vs. the GAAP EPS estimate for ($1.28)
• Adjusted EBITDA (non-GAAP) was $868 million for the second quarter of 2018, as compared to $951 million for the second quarter of 2017, a decrease of $83 million. Adjusted EBITDA (non-GAAP) in the second quarter of 2018 reflects the impact of 2017 divestitures of approximately $70 million, transactional foreign exchange and other of $51 million, the impact of the loss of exclusivity of certain products of $59 million and favorable translational foreign exchange of $10 million.
• Co updates guidancefor FY18, continues to see FY18 revs of $8.15-8.35 bln vs. $8.29 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Adj-EBITDA of $3.2-3.35 bln (Prior $3.15-3.3 bln)

Bausch Health Cos. Inc. (BHC),   the renamed Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., said Tuesday it swung to a loss of $873 million, or $2.49 a share, in the second quarter, wider than the loss of $38 million, or 11 cents a share, posted in the year-earlier period. The loss was mostly due to an increase in the company's operating loss that was due to an asset impairment associated with the loss of exclusivity of a certain product, an increase in amortization of intangible assets and a decrease in product contribution following divestitures and discontinuations. Revenue fell to $2.128 billion from $2.233 billion. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of 80 cents and revenue of $2.063 billion. The company said it realigned into four reporting segments in the quarter, namely Bausch and Lomb/International, its eye treatments; Salix, its gastroenterology business; Ortho Dermatologics; and diversified products. It also made moves to pay down debt, extending the maturity date of its revolving credit facility, replacing Term B loans, modifying facility covenants, lowering interest rates, issuing $750 million of 8.500% unsecured senior notes due 2028 and redeeming about $2 billion of unsecured senior notes. The company said it still expects full-year revenue of $8.15 billion to $8.35 billion. Shares were up 2.9% premarket and have gained 8.8% in 2018, while the S&P 500 (SPX) has gained 6.6%.

Earnings this week : Aug 6 - 10, 18 (wk 32)

Notable earnings out this week

Monday (August 6)

• Morning: CTB  BID CAH NWL  SEAS TSN 
• Afternoon: CDEV ETSY HTZ MAR MOS  RNG Z  ZG  TWLO TLND WTW  AEL AKCA AMRS ANDV ANDX ANSS APLE ARNA ATSG AVD AWR BHF BKD BKH BRKS BWXT CBT   CMP CPE CRY CRZO CVCO DCO DPLO DVAX EDIT   EVBG FATE FIVN FRGI FRPT  HHC   ITRI KMT KRNT LGND LMNX     MTSC MTW MWA MXWL NCMI NGHC NPTN NSA NVGS OAS OFIX OTTR PI PLOW PLYA RBC REN   RPD SNHY SYKE TCMD THC  TRTX TUSK  WMC  ZGNX 

Tuesday (Aug 7)

• Morning:  ACM AES AFI AMRC ANIP AQUA ARMK ATKR AVNS AYR BHC BIOS BLD BOLD BR CEVA CORE CROX DEA DF DISCA DNR DQ EGN EGRX EMR EPC EXPD FSS GSKY GTN HAE HLNE HZN IIVI IONS JELD LABL LGIH LPX MGP MNK NHI NJR NS NWN ODP OMI ONCE ONDK PPL PRIM QNST RDUS RHP SAGE SATS SN SNH SPNS TAST TDG TECH TGH TGNA TRS USAC USCR VGR VPG VSH VSM XRAY ZBRA 

• Afternoon:   AAOI  AAXN AIZ ALB ALRM AMBR ANDE ARA BECN BIO BLDR BOFI BOOT BTG CAR CARG CBLK CGBD CIVI CLR CSOD CUTR CWH CYBR DCP DDD DHT DIOD DIS DK DXC DXPE ENV ESE EVH EVRI FGEN FOSL FTK G GCP GWPH HALO HCKT HDP HST ICHR IFF INFN INGN INSP IOSP IPAR IVC IVR JAZZ KAR KRO LC LRN MMI MODN MTCH MXL NEWR NNI NP NVTA OPK ORA PAA PAGP PBPB  PE  PEN PLT POWL PRA PRAA PRI PRMW PRSC PTCT PUMP PXD PZZA QDEL QTWO RLJ RWT SFLY SIEN SNAP SRC SUPN SWX TPC TPIC TRHC TWNK TWO VSLR WEN WK WRD XEC XOG 

Wednesday (Aug 8)

• Morning:   ATHM   CARS CBB CHH CLNY CNDT CNK CRL CSTE CUB CVS DEPO DLPH EBIX ENDP ETM EXTR FI FRTA GEL GOGO GVA HRI HZNP ITG JLL KDP KELYA KORS LAMR LITE LXP MGA MIDD MYL NOVT NXST NYT SBGI SINA  SO STE STWD SUP TGI TLRA TPB TRI WAAS WB WWW WYND

• Afternoon: ACAD ACTG ADT AINV AMBC AMPH ANGI AOSL APEI ATO AVT AYX AZPN BKNG BREW BV CISN COLL CPA CTL CVNA CXW DAR DNB DOOR ECPG ELF ENS EQIX ETE ETP EVRG FANG FG FLO FLS FNV FOXA FSM GBDC GDOT HPR IAC IAG INSY JACK KAMN KIDS LASR LOPE MBI MELI MFC MNST MRAM MUR NEU NKTR NNBR NTES NTRA NUAN NVAX OCLR ORIG OSUR OUT OXY PAAS PDCE PEGA QHC RGLD ROKU RPT SAIL SD SEMG SENS SGMO SJI SLF SRPT SUN TCX TIVO TTGT UHAL UPLD VNOM VRTU WMGI XPER YELP ZTO

Thursday (Aug 9)

• Morning:   BAM BPMP CABO CCE CDAY DDS DSKE FBM GCI GOOS HIMX HL HPT IMOS KOP LAUR LNG LOXO MMS MNTA MPAA NCLH NICE NOMD OGE PEGI PLUG PQG PRGO PRTY PTLA RDNT SGRY SMI SND SNR SPH TRCO TTI UNT  UPL VIAB VRTV VSTO WBT WIN WMS WP

• Afternoon:  ACXM AIRG AL ALTR ASYS AVID AVLR BW CDNA  CHUY COLD CORT CYRX DBX ECOM  ELGX  EPAY FNKO FSCT ICUI INVH JAG JCOM LGF.A MCHP MIME NWSA OLED OMER OSTK  PBYI PCTY PLNT RBA RDFN ROAD RUN  SPPI SSRM SYNA  TRUE  TTD UNIT VSAT WOW WPRT WTTR XON

Friday (Aug 10)

• Morning:  AIT ERF MDP RUTH

Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX) to be renamed Bausch Health Companies

 

• The change to Bausch Health Companies Inc. and the new ticker BHC, is scheduled for July. 

 

It will be the company’s second scandal-inspired name change in less than 10 years. In 2010, after the troubled pharmaceutical company Biovail acquired Valeant, and the combined company went by the name Valeant instead.

Rebranding is a time-honored tool for companies, giving them a fresh start and bringing them closer to what they want to be known for.

Andersen Consulting is now Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN), Philip Morris is Altria Group Inc (NYSE:MO), and most of what was once Enron is now Kinder Morgan Inc (NYSE:KMI).

In Valeant’s case, that would be its well-known Bausch + Lomb eye products line, which sells contact lenses, dry eye products, prescription eye products, surgical products and more. The business unit brought in $4.9 billion in revenue last year, making it by far Valeant’s biggest unit by revenue.