Shares of Zoom Communications Inc (NASDAQ:ZM) are falling 6.4% to trade at $94.44 after a slightly disappointing profit outlook overshadowed a top- and bottom-line beat for the second quarter. The shares are also brushing off no fewer than three price-target hikes, including one from Morgan Stanley to $107 from $105.
The stock has had a choppy couple months following its June 1 three-year high of $114.74, and was most recently rejected by the $110 level in mid August. Down roughly 12% in the last week, the shares are still up 9.4% year to date.
Though the number of puts and calls exchanged over the past two weeks has been about even on an absolute basis, puts are being picked up at a much faster-than-usual pace. This is per ZM's 10-day put/call volume ratio of 0.98 on the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), which sits in the 99th percentile of its annual range.
So far today, 16,000 calls and 12,000 puts have crossed the tape, which is five times the intraday average volume. The October 100 call is the most popular, with new positions opening there.
Meanwhile, the stock's Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) sits at a relatively high 93 out of 100, indicating that the stock has tended to exceed option traders' volatility expectations during the past year.
