Unusual Options Activity, Fri 6/23/23

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:

• EOSE Jan24 2.5 calls are seeing interest with the underlying stock down 7% (volume: 1910, open int: 230, implied vol: ~138%, prev day implied vol: 133%). 1000 contracts traded in a single transaction. Co is expected to report earnings mid-July.
• COST Jun 525 calls (volume: 1780, open int: 1990, implied vol: ~20%, prev day implied vol: 15%). Co is expected to report earnings mid-September.
• ORCL Sep 130 calls (volume: 2490, open int: 230, implied vol: ~24%, prev day implied vol: 23%). 1290 contracts traded in a single transaction. Co is expected to report earnings mid-September.
• SNAP Aug 12 calls (volume: 24.0K, open int: 19.3K, implied vol: ~74%, prev day implied vol: 73%). 9180 contracts traded in a single transaction. Co is expected to report earnings late July.
  

Bearish Put Activity:

• HPP Sep 5 puts are seeing interest with the underlying stock down 6% (volume: 2660, open int: 10, implied vol: ~91%, prev day implied vol: 59%). 2700 contracts traded in a single transaction. Co is expected to report earnings late July.
• DD Jul 67.5 puts (volume: 2730, open int: 80, implied vol: ~27%, prev day implied vol: 24%). Co is expected to report earnings early August.
  

Sentiment: The CBOE Put/Call ratio is currently: 0.83, VIX: (12.94, +0.03, +0.2%).
July 21 is options expiration -- the last day to trade July equity options.

Insider Trading (Thu 6/9/22)

Notable purchases -- Director adds to CHWY; notable sales -- Director active in RES

Buyers:

• AAT Chairman & CEO bought 10,000 shares at $32.71 worth ~ $330K.
  
• ABCL 10% Owner bought 64,545 shares at $7.44 - $7.55 worth ~ $480K.
  
• ARRY CEO bought 37,500 shares at $13.33 worth ~ $500K.
  
• BZFD Directors bought 175,000 shares at $2.57 - $2.90 worth ~ $440K.
  
• CHWY Director bought 180,636 shares at $27.33 - $28.00 worth ~ $5.0 mln.
  
• COST Director bought 850 shares at $470.74 worth ~ $400K.
  
• CVNA Chief Brand Officer bought 40,000 shares at $24.47 - $25.03 worth ~ $990K.
  
• GBTG 10% Owner bought 425,568 shares at $8.46 - $8.74 worth ~ $3.6 mln.
  
• HI CFO bought 6,000 shares at $43.96 - $44.05 worth ~ $260K.
  
• KIND Director bought 151,088 shares at $3.25 - $3.36 worth ~ $500K.
  
• NRDY CEO bought 150,000 shares at $2.80 - $2.90 worth ~ $430K.

Sellers:

• BRY 10% Owner sold 884,116 shares at $11.05 - $11.40 worth ~ $10.0 mln.
  
• FLYW Director sold 199,854 shares at $19.23 - $19.38 worth ~ $3.9 mln.
  
• PKG CFO sold 13,800 shares at $159.75 - $160.81 worth ~ $2.2 mln.
  
• PTC Director sold 301,106 shares at $115.43 - $120.51 worth ~ $35.4 mln.
  
• RES Director sold 807,978 shares at $9.09 - $9.65 worth ~ $7.6 mln.
  
• WMS EVP, Supply Chain & Logistics sold 20,000 shares at $112.08 - $112.95 worth ~ $2.3 mln.

-=Amazon.com (AMZN) eliminates its $14.99 monthly fee for grocery delivery to Amazon Prime members

The shares of some grocery sellers fell Tuesday, in the wake of Amazon.com Inc.'s (AMZN) announcement that it was eliminating its $14.99 monthly fee for grocery delivery to Amazon Prime members.

Kroger Co. (KR) dropped 1.4%, after closing Monday at a 4-week high.
Sprouts Farmers Market (SFM, -1.38% fell 0.6%, Target Corp. TGT, -0.98% slipped 0.2% and Walmart Inc. WMT, -1.07% lost 0.4%, while Costco Wholesale Corp. COST, -0.22% inched up less than 0.1%. Amazon shares eased 0.2%.

AMZN,KR,SFM,TGT,COST,WMT

=Costco Wholesale (COST) reported earnings on Thur 4 Oct 2018 (a/h)

Costco beats by $0.02, reports revs in-line; expects to report a material weakness in internal control in 10-K related to general IT controls of user access 

• Reports Q4 (Aug) earnings of $2.36 per share, $0.02 better than the S&P Capital IQ Consensus of $2.34; revenues rose 5.0% year/year to $44.41 bln vs the $44.17 bln S&P Capital IQ Consensus. 
• Co previously announced Q4 comps +9.5%, above estimates.
• No September sales update was provided.
• While the Company is still completing its assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting as of September 2, 2018, in its upcoming fiscal 2018 Annual Report on Form 10-K, it expects to report a material weakness in internal control. The weakness relates to general information technology controls in the areas of user access and program change-management over certain information technology systems that support the Company's financial reporting processes. The access issues relate to the extent of privileges afforded users authorized to access company systems. As of the date of this release, there have been no misstatements identified in the financial statements as a result of these deficiencies, and the Company expects to timely file its Form 10-K. Remediation efforts have begun.

Costco expects to report a material weakness in internal in its upcoming fiscal 2018 Annual Report on Form 10-K
While the Company is still completing its assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting as of September 2, 2018, in its upcoming fiscal 2018 Annual Report on Form 10-K, it expects to report a material weakness in internal control. The weakness relates to general information technology controls in the areas of user access and program change-management over certain information technology systems that support the Company's financial reporting processes. The access issues relate to the extent of privileges afforded users authorized to access company systems. As of the date of this release, there have been no misstatements identified in the financial statements as a result of these deficiencies, and the Company expects to timely file its Form 10-K.

Earnings this week : Oct 1 - 5, 2018 (wk 40)

Earnings confirmed to report next week

Monday (Oct 1) 

• Morning: CALM  HDB xSVA PEBK SKYS CBLI XBIO CREG
• Afternoon: SFIX EBF UEC ELLO GIG CCIH DARE

Tuesday (Oct 2)
Morning: LW PAYX PEP
Afternoon: LNDC

Wednesday (Oct 3)

• Morning: AYI LEN RPM
• Afternoon: PIR RECN SNX

Thursday (Oct 4)

• Morning: ISCA STZ
• Afternoon: COST  SGH

Friday (Oct 5)

• None

=Costco Wholesale (COST) reported earnings on Thur 5 Oct 2017 (a/h)

Costco (COST) falls despite beating both top and bottom line estimates.

Costco beats by $0.06, beats on revs

• Reports Q4 (Aug) earnings of $2.08 per share, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $2.02; revenues rose 15.7% year/year to $42.3 bln vs the $41.55 bln Capital IQ Consensus; comps +6.1% with e-commerce +21%; comps +5.7% ex-gas and FX
• September comps +8.9% with e-commerce +30%; +6.2% excluding gas and FX.

=Costco Wholesale (COST) reported earnings on Wed 2 March 2016 (a/h)

Costco misses by $0.04, misses on revs; reports Feb same store sales 0.0% vs 0.0% Retail Metrics consensus :

• Reports Q2 (Feb) earnings of $1.24 per share, $0.04 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.28; revenues rose 2.6% year/year to $28.17 bln vs the $28.52 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Comps
  • Feb: Co reports Feb same store sales 0.0% vs 0.0% Retail Metrics consensus
  • Q2: Co reports same store sales +1.0%
• Net sales for the quarter increased three percent, to $27.57 billion from $26.87 billion last year

COST — is it a sell?

• Dec 9: A drop after earnings.

• NO.  Two weeks later:

Costco Wholesale (COST) reported earnings on Wed 9 Dec 2015 (before open)

** charts before earnings **

  

** charts after earnings **

Costco misses by $0.08, misses on revs :

• Reports Q1 (Nov) earnings of $1.09 per share, $0.08 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.17; revenues rose 1.3% year/year to $27.22 bln vs the $27.73 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Total Company Comparable sales were -1% (US +2%, Can -9%, Int'l -5%) 
  • As previously reported in last weeks Nov comps release