Birkenstock Holding (NYSE:BIRK) shares are up 18.5% to trade at $42.73 today, after the footwear company’s fiscal third-quarter results beat revenue expectations and prompted management to raise full-year guidance. Revenue came in above estimates and increased 15% from the same quarter a year ago and overshadowed an earnings miss.
The shares are rebounding off yesterday's pullback to $36 and are pacing for their best single-day percentage gain since May 21. BIRK has now reclaimed its year-to-date breakeven level.
Options traders have been tremendously bearish. The stock sports a 10-day put/call volume ratio of 10.65 on the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). This ratio sits in the 100th percentile of its annual range, hinting at a much healthier-than-usual appetite for bearish bets over bullish of late. Today though, calls rule out, running at seven times the average intraday amount.
Echoing this is BIRK's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 7.17 sits in just the 96th percentile of its annual range, suggesting short-term option players have rarely been more call-heavy during the past 12 months. An unwinding of these bearish bets could keep the wind at BIRK's back.
