Oklo Inc (NYSE:OKLO) stock is up 8.7% to trade at $71.72 today, after the nuclear energy company was selected by the Department of Energy (DoE) for advanced talks to join the Surplus Plutonium Utilization Program. Sector peer NuScale (SMR) is 8.8% higher in response.
OKLO has reclaimed its year-to-date breakeven level today. The shares are now 43% higher in the last 12 months, and are testing their overhead 200-day trendline.
A shift in sentiment could bring further tailwinds. Of the 22 brokerages covering Oklo, nine maintain "hold" or worse ratings. Short sellers, meanwhile, have increased their bearish bets by 19% in the two most recent reporting periods. The 28.74 million shares sold short now account for 19% of the stock's total available float.
In just the first half hour of trading, 13,000 calls have changed hands, volume that's double the average intraday amount and six times the number of puts exchanged. The weekly 5/29 80-strike call is the most popular, while the June 90 call is also seeing notable attention.
Now looks like a great time to weigh in with options. The stock's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 88% sits in the 13th percentile of annual readings, suggesting options traders are pricing in low volatility expectations. Oklo also tends to outperform options traders' volatility expectations, per its Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) of 88 out of 100.
