Best Buy Co Inc (NYSE:BBY) stock is up 4.2% at $74.78, after the company launched a new third-party digital marketplace. The platform -- powered by French software company Mirakl -- more than doubled the amount of products available, with new shopping categories and expanded tech offerings.
On the charts, the $75 region could be keeping gains in check, having rejected several rallies since mid-March. The stock is encroaching upon several long-term moving averages, however, looking to close above the 150-day trendline for the first time since February. Year-to-date, the equity is down 12%.
Options bulls are chiming in on the news. So far today, 9,130 calls have been exchanged -- four times the average call volume typically seen at this point -- in comparison to just 1587 puts. The weekly 8/22 74-strike call is the most popular, followed by the 72-strike call in the same series, with new positions opening at the former.
Calls have been more popular than usual over the last 10 weeks, too. BBY's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 1.62 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) ranks higher than 94% of readings from the past year.
Some of these bullish plays could be shorts hedging their bets, as short interest has been on the rise, now representing 7.8% of the stock's available float. It would take shorts over four days to cover, at BBY's average pace of trading.
