Tylenol maker and former Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) spinoff Kenvue Inc (NYSE:KVUE) is 16.7% higher to trade at $16.74, after Kimberly-Clark Corp (NASDAQ:KMB) agreed to purchase the pharma name for $48.70 billion in cash and stock. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2026.
Today's lift is well overdue for KVUE, trading at record lows of $14.02 on Oct. 30 and still down 22.8% year to date even after today's gap higher, poised to be its best day since August 2024.
Options are surging in response 87,000 calls and 24,000 puts across the tape so far, triple the average intraday volume. Most popular is the December 20 call, with the November 18 call closely behind.
KMB is not responding so kindly to the news, down 12.6% at $104.61 at last check, trading at almost seven-year lows and on track for its worst day since October 1987. Formerly clinging to the $120 area, Kimberly-Clark is now down 20% in 2025, carving a channel of lower lows since a March 10 peak at $150.45.
At last check, KMB options are running at 40 times the average intraday pace. The January 2026, 115-strike call is seeing the most attention, where new positions are being bought to open.
It looks as though both KVUE and KMB tends to outperform options traders' volatility expectations. This is per their Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) reading of 98 and 87 (out of 100), respectfully.
