Unusual Options Activity Tue 9/5/23

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:

• MVIS Sep 3 calls (volume: 11.5K, open int: 90, implied vol: ~140%, prev day implied vol: 97%). 2K traded in a single transaction. Co is expected to report earnings early November.
• AXL Sep 7 calls (volume: 1850, open int: 0, implied vol: ~52%, prev day implied vol: 32%). 1850 contacts traded in a single transaction. Co is expected to report earnings early November.
• RENT Sep 2.5 calls are seeing interest with the underlying stock up 7% (volume: 11.1K, open int: 0, implied vol: ~25%, prev day implied vol: 22%). 2350 contracts traded in a single transaction. Co is expected to report earnings early November.
  

Bearish Put Activity:

• MTCH Sep 47 puts (volume: 1860, open int: 20, implied vol: ~45%, prev day implied vol: 33%). Co is scheduled to present at a Goldman Sachs conference tomorrow and a Citigroup conference on Thursday. Co is expected to report earnings late October.
• JD Sep 33 puts (volume: 3160, open int: 400, implied vol: ~40%, prev day implied vol: 33%). Co is expected to report earnings mid-November.
  

Sentiment: The CBOE Put/Call ratio is currently: 1.04, VIX: (13.79, -0.03, -0.2%).
September 15 is options expiration -- the last day to trade September equity options.

Rent the Runway (RENT) reported earnings on Mon 12 Sep 22 (a/h)

•  Fashion rental service CEO says roughly 20% of business is from shoppers seeking work clothes, a much smaller percentage than before pandemic

Rent the Runway Inc. (RENT) said it would reduce its corporate workforce by 24%, primarily through layoffs, as the fashion-rental service adjusts to a slowdown in consumer spending and shifts from shopping habits adopted earlier in the pandemic.

The New York company on Monday didn’t specify the total number of jobs affected. It had 958 full-time employees and 138 part-time employees as of Jan. 31, according to securities filings.

The workforce reduction is meant to transform Rent the Runway from a cash burner into a company that can fund itself through revenue alone, co-founder and Chief Executive Jenn Hyman said in an interview. Rent the Runway was founded in November 2008 and since its inception it has incurred roughly $878 million of losses as of July.

The announcement came as the company reported that despite revenue rising 64% in the second quarter from a year earlier, its active subscriber count unexpectedly dropped from the first quarter.

It ended the July quarter with 124,131 active subscribers, representing an increase of 27% from a year ago, but lower than the nearly 135,000 reported for the first quarter.