Unusual Options Activity Fri 5/24/24

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:

• AI Weekly May31 26.5 calls (volume: 12.7K, open int: 880, implied vol: ~80%, prev day implied vol: 60%). 11.7K traded in a single transaction. Co is confirmed to report earnings May 29 after the close.
• GPS Weekly May31 25 calls (volume: 2010, open int: 750, implied vol: ~72%, prev day implied vol: 56%). Co is confirmed to report earnings May 30 after the close.
• MRVL Jun 84 calls (volume: 1620, open int: 70, implied vol: ~51%, prev day implied vol: 46%). Co is confirmed to report earnings May 30 after the close.
• WDAY Weekly May24 235 calls are seeing interest with the underlying stock down 14% (volume: 3750, open int: 10, implied vol: ~26%, prev day implied vol: 24%). Co reported earnings last night.
  

Bearish Put Activity:

• ORCL Weekly May24 123 puts (volume: 2140, open int: 2740, implied vol: ~33%, prev day implied vol: 29%). Co is expected to report earnings mid-June.
• PZZA Jul 47.5 puts (volume: 5520, open int: 5550, implied vol: ~34%, prev day implied vol: 32%). 5230 contracts traded in a single transaction. We noted activity in the Jun 57.5 puts earlier in the week (see 5/23 13:17 OPTNX). Co is expected to report earnings early August.
  

Sentiment: The CBOE Put/Call ratio is currently: 0.90, VIX: (12.19, -0.58, -4.6%).

June 21 is options expiration -- the last day to trade June equity options. 

=Papa John's (PZZA) reported earnings on Wed 6 Nov 19 (b/o)

Papa John's misses by $0.01, beats on revs; reaffirms FY19 EPS guidance, narrows FY 19 comps ranges 

Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.21 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 worse than the S&P Capital IQ Consensus of $0.22; revenues rose 4.8% year/year to $403.71 mln vs the $384.54 mln S&P Capital IQ Consensus.

• Third quarter system-wide North America comparable sales increase of 1.0%
• Third quarter international comparable sales increase of 1.6%; international franchise sales increase of 10.1%, excluding the impact of foreign currency

Co reaffirms guidance for FY19, sees EPS of $1.00-1.20, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.13 S&P Capital IQ Consensus.

• expects NA comps decline of (1.5-3.5%) and international comps of 0.0-2% vs prior outlook of (1-4%) and 0.0-3% respectively
• expect net global unit growth of 85-115 vs prior outlook of 100-150

Earnings this week : Nov 4 - 8, 19 (wk 45)

Monday (Nov 4)

• Morning: BHC CYOU COHU RACE FE GCI KOS MMYT SOHU S SUP SYY UAA
• Afternoon: AAN ACOR ADUS AOSL APLE APTS AWR BHF BKD BKH BWXT CBT CC CDE CDEV CHGG CPE DIOD DK DOOR ED ELVT ETH EVBG EVER FBM FICO FN FRPT FRTA FTSI GRPN HHC HIG HLIO HPR HR HTZ IFF ITRI JKHY KAMN KMPR KMT LASR LMNX MAR MDRX MOS MYGN NBIX NCMI NTR O OTTR OUT OXY PAHC PBPB PI PLMR PLOW PRU PXD QTS REAL RMBS RNG RYAM SHAK SHO SNCR STE STRL SWM SYKE TCMD THC TNDM TSE UBER VAC VECO WES WTR XEC 

Tuesday (Nov 5)

• Morning: AFI AGN AMRC AMRN ARNC ASC ATH ATHM ATRO AVNS AVTR BCPC BDX BMCH BPMC BSIG CEIX CHH CHK CNK CSWI CTLT EEX EMR ENDP EQM EXPD FI FIS FTDR GEO GLDD GSKY GSX HLNE HSIC ICPT IPHS IPI JLL LAMR LCII LGIH LPX MDGL MGP MNK MYE MYL NEM NOVT NPO NS NWN OCN OXFD PBI PINC PPL PTON RCM REGN RHP RPD SERV SGRY SRC SSTK SXC TA THR TLRA TPR TRVG UNT UNVR USAC USFD VCEL VIRT VPG VRTV VST WBT WLK ZBH
• Afternoon: ACHC AKCA ALRM Y ATUS AVD ANDE AINV AIZ AVLR BTG BEAT WIFI CZR CARG CDK CENX CNO COHR CMP CPSI SCOR CPS CSOD CCRN CWK DVA DVN FANG DEI EVRI ES EVH FATE FRGI FIVN FLDM FTR GTES GTE GPRE GHL GWPH HCKT HCR HST HUBS ICHR IOSP INGN INSP PODD IPAR IRTC JAZZ KAR KRG KTOS KPI LC LGND LTHM MTCH MBI MCHP MODN MWA NP NEWR NUS OAS OHI OPK PE PAYS PAA PAGP PLT PTLA PRMW PRA RDUS RRGB RRR RGNX SWIR SSRM SXI INN SUPN CGBD TSLX TRUP TWO RARE VGR VOYA WMC WLL WW

Wednesday (Nov 6)

• Morning: AES XLRN AYR ALE AMRX ANIP WAAS GOLD BKI BLMN BCOR BR CSTE CPRI CRCM CARS CBRE FUN GIB CRL IMOS CIR CWEN CNHI CNR COTY CVIA CVS CYBR DEA ELAN ENBL ESPR GLOG GCP GEL HZNP HUM NSIT IONS JELD KELYA KL LAUR LXP LL MFA MIDD NYT NXST DNOW ODP OMI PZZA PFGC PRGO DOC RDWR SMG SEE SQNS SBGI SND VNTR VER VG VMC WNC WD WEC WEN WLH
• Afternoon: AIMT, ATSG, ALB, LNT, UHAL, AEL, ANGI, ANSS, AAOI, ASRT, ATO, EQH, AXGN, BIDU, BAND, BNFT, BL, BRKS, CECO, CVNA, CTL, COLL, CNDT, CXW, DAR, DCP, DXCM, DXPE, DVAX, ELF, EGAN, ERI, EBS, ECPG, ET, ELF, ENS, EOG, EVRG, EXPE, STAY, FG, FISV, FIT, FLT, FLO, FLNT, FSCT, FOSL, FOXA, GKOS, GMED, GLUU, GDDY, LOPE, HOLX, TWNK, IAG, ICFI, IAC, IVC, NVTA, IQ, KGC, LCI, LHCG, RAMP, MFC, MRO, MTRX, NTRA, NKTR, NVRO, NEX, OSUR, ORA, OR, PAAS, PGRE, PK, PDCE, PLYA, PRI, PROS, PSEC, PRSC, PBYI, QTWO, QCOM, QUOT, RP, RDFN, RCII, REZI, ROKU, RGLD, RUBI, SAIL, SGMO, WTTR, SEDG, SJI, SWX, SPTN, SQ, SLF, SUN, TLND, TTGT, TXMD, TMST, TPIC, TRIP, TCX, TPC, UPWK, VVV, VNDA, VERI, VSLR, WK, WMGI, WYNN, ZAGG, ZAYO 

Thursday (Nov 7)

• Morning: ACIW, ADNT, WMS, APD, AMC, ABC, MT, AVA, AZUL, BCC, CAH, ECOM, CBB, CLVS, CCOI, CMCO, COMM, CORE, COT, DNR, DISCA, DISH, SATS, EPAM, EVOP, AG, FOCS, GOGO, GTN, HAIN, HL, HIMX, HII, INXN, JCI, KDP, KTB, KOP, LXRX, MBUU, MCFT, MDP, VIVO, MSGN, NHI, EYE, NLSN, NBL, NOMD, NCLH, NVMI, NRG, OGE, PCRX, PRTY, PRFT, PGTI, PNW, PLUG, RL, RLGY, SBH, SEAS, SNH, STRA, TGNA, TSG, TWI, THS, GTS, TGI, USPH, VSTO, WRK, WWW, ZTS 
• Afternoon: AAXN, AGO, AGS, AIRG, AL, ALTR, AMBC, AMH, AMPH, ANAB, AQN, ARLO, ARNA, ATVI, AVID, BE, BEDU, BGNE, BKNG, BOLD, CABO, CDAY, CHUY, COLD, CORT, CTRE, CUTR, CWH, CYRX, DBX, DIS, EB, ENLC, ENV, FARM, FSLY, G, GDOT, GH, GPRO, GSBD, IVR, JAG, JJSF, KIDS, KRO, KSHB, LADR, LPSN, MAIN, MATX, MED, MIME, MITK, MMI, MNST, MOD, MRAM, MTD, MTW, NCR, NDLS, NLOK, NNBR, NNI, NVEE, NWSA, ONTO, PEGA, PEN, PETQ, PLNT, PRAA, QHC, QNST, RBA, RLJ, RVLV, SCPL, SEMG, SGMS, SIEN, SPPI, SRPT, STMP, SVMK, SWAV, SWCH, TDC, TIVO, TRHC, TROX, TRUE, TTD, TTWO, TUSK, TXG, UEPS, UNIT, UPLD, VRTU, VSAT, WPRT, WSC, WTRH, XOG, YELP, ZG, ZGNX, ZIOP

Friday (Nov 8)

• Morning: AER, AEE, EPAY, CLNY, DRH DUK, ENB, ERF, ETM, ESNT, FLY, GTX, GNLN, HMC, MSG, MGA, ZEUS, REV, SSP, SVC, STWD, USCR, UNT

Notable earnings reports: 

• Under Armour (NYSE:UAA), Uber (UBER), Shake Shack (NYSE:SHAK), Marriott International (NASDAQ:MAR) and Bausch Health (NYSE:BHC) on November 4; 
• Booking Holdings (NASDAQ:BKNG), Match (NASDAQ:MTCH), Peloton Interactive (NASDAQ:PTON) and Tapestry (NYSE:TPR) on November 5; 
• Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU), Square (NYSE:SQ), Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU), Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM), Expedia (NASDAQ:EXPE), Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) and CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) on November 6; 
• Disney (NYSE:DIS), Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI), GoPro (NASDAQ:GPRO), Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ:TTWO), Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ:WYNN), Dropbox (NASDAQ:DBX) and Zillow (NASDAQ:ZG) on November 7; 
• Scientific Games (NASDAQ:SGMS) and Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) on November 8.

Papa John's International (PZZA) to be acquired?

 

****  QSR ****

Restaurants Brands (QSR), which is the parent company of Burger King, Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen and Tim Hortons, could team up with ousted former CEO John Schnatter and investment capital firm 3G Capital to make the purchase, according to DealReporter.

Papa John's management began accepting submitted offers for an acquisition last year, according to a Reuters report in September. The company was thrown into disarray following the ouster of Schnatter, who stepped down in July following reports that he used a racial slur during a conference call.

Schnatter has not gone quietly, however, last year suing the company he founded. Last week, a judge ruled that the company had to hand over corporate records to Schnatter.

Separately, Papa John's announced that it appointed Marvin Boakye as its first chief people officer.

"Boakye's expertise will help us to continue to push Papa John's forward in our transformation to become a better place to work for our 120,000 corporate and franchise team members," said Papa John's President and CEO Steve Ritchie. "In our search for a chief people officer, our goal was to identify a proven talent development leader with expertise in driving organizational change.

-=Papa John's (PZZA) reported earnings on Tue 8 May 2018 (a/h)

Papa John's misses by $0.12, misses on revs; global comps -1.3%, reaffirms 2018 outlook 

• Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.50 per share, $0.12 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.62; revenues fell 4.9% year/year to $427.37 mln vs the $440.74 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
• North America comparable sales decrease of 5.3%
• International comparable sales increases of 0.3%; international franchise sales increase of 21.1%, excluding the impact of foreign currency
• Domestic Company-owned restaurants operating margin decreased $8.6 million, or 2.7% as a percentage of related revenues, primarily due to lower comparable sales, increased labor costs including higher minimum wages and increased non-owned automobile costs.

Co states, "The company is reaffirming its previously issued 2018 outlook, as we expect our initiatives will result in improved sales and operating results in the last half of the year."

=Papa John's (PZZA) reported earnings on Tue 27 Feb 2018 (a/h)

Papa John's misses by $0.02, reports revs in-line 

• Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.65 per share, $0.02 worse thanthe Capital IQ Consensus of $0.67; revenues rose 6.4% year/year to $467.6 mln vs the $463.61 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
• System-wide North America comparable sales decreased 3.9% for Q4 and increased of 0.1% for the full year. International comparable sales increased 2.6% for Q4 and 4.4% for the full year.
• Had 98 net unit openings in the fourth quarter and 102 for the full year, of which all 102 were International.
• Free cash flow for 2017 was $82.4 million compared to $94.7 million in 2016.
• Outlook: For 2018, sees GAAP EPS of $2.40-$2.60 compared to GAAP EPS of $2.83 for 2017. Sees North American comp sales of negative 3% to flat; International comp sales growth of 3-5%; net global new unit growth of 3-5%5; and CapEx of $45-$55 mln.

=Papa John's International (PZZA) reported earnings on Tue 1 Aug 2017 (a/h)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) _ Papa John's International Inc. (PZZA) on Tuesday reported second-quarter profit of $24.1 million.

On a per-share basis, the Louisville, Kentucky-based company said it had profit of 65 cents.

The pizza chain posted revenue of $434.8 million in the period.

Papa John's shares have declined 17 percent since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Tuesday, shares hit $71.13, a fall of 4 percent in the last 12 months.

=Papa John's (PZZA) reported earnings on Tue 21 Feb 2017(a/h)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) _ Papa John's International Inc. (PZZA) on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter profit of $32.6 million.

The Louisville, Kentucky-based company said it had profit of 88 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring gains, came to 69 cents per share.

The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 66 cents per share.

The pizza chain posted revenue of $439.6 million in the period, which fell short of Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $445.8 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $102.8 million, or $2.74 per share. Revenue was reported as $1.71 billion.

Papa John's shares have increased slightly since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Tuesday, shares hit $85.63, a rise of 64 percent in the last 12 months.