Unusual Options Activity Mon 10/9/23

Stocks seeing volatility buying (bullish call buying/bearish put buying):

Calls:

• PXD Oct 250 calls are seeing interest with 12.5K contracts trading vs. open int of 1.6K, pushing implied vol up around 13 points to ~50%. Co is expected to report earnings early November.
  
• OXY Oct 64 calls are seeing interest with the underlying stock up 4% with 13.2K contracts trading vs. open int of 1.1K, pushing implied vol up around 10 points to ~39%. Chevron (CVX) was interested in Occidental Petroleum (OXY) at the beginning of the year, according to The Wall Street Journal. Co is expected to report earnings November 7 after the close.
• LMT Oct 450 calls are seeing interest with the underlying stock up 8% with 2810 contracts trading vs. open int of 0, pushing implied vol up around 5 points to ~41%. Defense names showing strength amid Israel/Hamas war. 
  

Puts:

• DLO Oct 17 puts are seeing interest with 11.0K contracts trading vs. open int of 0, pushing implied vol up around 19 points to ~65%. Co is expected to report earnings mid-November.
  

Sentiment: The CBOE Put/Call ratio is currently: 0.96, VIX: (17.75, +0.30, +1.7%).
October 20 is options expiration -- the last day to trade October equity options.

=Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) reported earnings on Tue 1 Aug 2017 (b/o)

IRVING, Texas (AP) _ Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (PXD) on Tuesday reported second-quarter net income of $233 million, after reporting a loss in the same period a year earlier.

The Irving, Texas-based company said it had profit of $1.36 per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring gains, were 21 cents per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 18 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 11 cents per share.

The independent oil and gas company posted revenue of $1.63 billion in the period, also topping Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.3 billion.

Pioneer Natural Resources shares have declined 9 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has climbed 11 percent. In the final minutes of trading on Tuesday, shares hit $163.43, an increase of nearly 4 percent in the last 12 months.