Shares of Duolingo INC (NYSE:MCD) are soaring this morning, after the education technology company blew past second-quarter expectations with profits earnings of $0.91 per share on revenue of $252.27 million. In response, the company raised its full-year guidance from a range of $987 million-$996 million to $1.01 billion-$1.02 billion. While Duolingo's use of artificial intelligence (AI) and its unconventional social media presence has raised questions, this quarter's success, driven by an influx of daily active users and a growing lineup of courses, has seemingly quieted those concerns.
At last glance, the equity was up 31.8% at $453, on track to enjoy its best single-session gain since May 2022. Shares are now up 38.8% year-to-date, with the stock recovering a large portion of its June-July losses.
The stock today is a favorite in the options pit today, with volume running at 17 times the average pace. So far today, 18,000 calls and 9,549 puts have been exchanged. The most popular option is the August 370 put, followed by the September 400 call.
Calls have been more popular than usual leading up to today, too. DUOL's 10-day call/put volume ratio of 3.30 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) ranks higher than 98% of readings from the past year.
The stock has also tended to outperform expectations in recent months, per the Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) of 96 out of 100.
