Shares of Archer Aviation Inc (NYSE:ACHR) are up 18.6% at $6.63 this morning, after the drone company announced it will acquire three Boeing (BA) subsidiaries, giving Boeing a 19.75% stake in Archer. The deal expands Archer's capabilities in electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, autonomous flight technologies, air traffic management, and defense.
This is poised to be the stock's best single-session move since May 2025. ACHR is still down 11.8% year to date, though today's pop has the shares moving further from their July 17 52-week low of $4.32. The round $7 level looks to be where the rally will stall today, an area that coincides with the equity's 200-day moving average.
Part of today's surge could be attributed to short covering. The 95.10 million shares sold short account for 14.72% of Archer's available float, representing a significant amount of potential buying pressure.
Options traders, meanwhile, have been positioning for upside. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and Nasdaq OMX PHLX (PHLX), Archer's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 6.48 ranks higher than 82% of annual readings, indicating calls have been picked up at a faster-than-usual pace over the last 10 weeks.
It's more of the same today. At last look, over 100,000 calls have changed hands, volume that's 12 times the average intraday amount and almost 10 times the number of puts exchanged. The weekly 8/14 7.00-strike call is the most popular, with new positions being bought to open.
