Carnival Corp (NYSE:CCL) stock is down 3.3% to trade at $29.47 this morning, even after the cruise company reported fiscal third-quarter earnings that exceeded estimates. Carnival even raised its annual profit forecast, but CCL has nonetheless pivoted into the red after trading as high as $32.49 out of the gate this morning. Sector peers Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) and Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH) are both lower today as well.
The shares are still 19.3% higher year to date, with two bull flag patterns forming this summer, the most recent yielding a Sept. 11 five-year high of $32.79. Longer term, CCL is 60% higher in the last 12 months, and the 80-day moving average is helping capture today's pullback.
Short-term options traders have been leaning toward puts lately. This is per the equity's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.64 that sits in the 94th percentile of readings from the past 12 months.
Today though, the skew favors calls. At last check, over 74,000 calls have changed hands, volume that's nine times the average intraday amount and more than double the number of puts exchanged. Most of this action is around the weekly 10/3 30-strike call, where new positions are being bought to open.
