Traders are taking aim at commodity stocks today, with option activity ramping up on sector peers Coeur d’Alene Mines Corporation (CDE) and Silver Standard Resources Inc. (SSRI). CDE is in the spotlight after a solid showing on the earnings front, while SSRI is also attracting some bullish attention.
Call volume has surged to seven times the norm on CDE, with approximately 14,000 contracts exchanged so far. By contrast, just 3,107 puts have crossed the tape. The center of attention is CDE’s newly in-the-money March 30 call, where 6,120 contracts have traded — 85% at the ask price, suggesting a strong bias toward buying activity.
Today’s flurry of call trading comes on the heels of CDE’s fourth-quarter earnings report, which hit the Street ahead of this morning’s opening bell. The precious metals specialist banked an adjusted profit of 56 cents per share, easily topping analysts’ consensus estimate of 32 cents per share.
CDE gapped higher at the open, vaulting above resistance in the $28 region along the way. The stock is up about 13% at last look, after earlier tagging a fresh two-year high of $31.45.
As for SSRI, both puts and calls are unusually active, with overall option volume rising to four times the expected level. So far, about 4,451 calls have crossed the tape, along with 2,122 puts. Most active is SSRI’s March 30 call, where 2,335 contracts have traded — 53% at the ask price, indicating that buyers are driving most of the action at this out-of-the-money strike.
SSRI is up 1.5% at last look, continuing a short-term rally along its 10-day moving average. This trendline has ushered the stock higher since late January, but SSRI is still sitting on a year-to-date deficit of 5.7%.
