Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) stock is up 2.6% to trade at $24.65 at last check, after the pharma giant revealed it will buy weight-loss drug company Metsera (MTSR) in a deal valued up to $7.3 billion.
PFE is on track for its best single-day percentage gain since July as well as its third gain in the last four sessions. A ceiling at the $25 level remains after in late August the stock pulled back form a rally to its highest level since March, however. In the last 12 months, the equity shed 16.5%.
Options bulls are chiming in, with 115,000 calls traded so far today -- four times the intraday average volume -- compared to only 17,000 puts. New positions are currently being opened at the two most active contracts, which are the October 25 and 9/26 24.50 calls.
Over at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), PFE's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 2.72 ranks higher than 82% of readings from the last year. In simpler terms, options traders have been much more bullish than usual.
When weighing in on PFE's stock's next moves, options look like solid route. The security's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 23% now ranks in the 5th percentile of its annual range, meaning options traders are pricing in low volatility expectations.
