Options Market Statistics: Apple Hit With Second Downgrade This Week on iPhone Worries, Options Pop
News Highlights
$Apple (AAPL.US)$ shares fell by 1.27%, closing at $181.91. Its options trading volume is 1.28 million. Call contracts account for 53.2% of the whole trading volume.The most traded calls are contracts of $185 strike price that expire on January 5th. The total volume reaches 106,469 with an open interest of 20,063. The most traded puts are contracts of a $180 strike price that expires on January 5th; the volume is 91,697 contracts with an open interest of 20,925.
Apple was already the least-loved big tech stock on Wall Street. Growing concerns over iPhone sales have now triggered a second downgrade this week, cementing analysts' cautious approach.
$Piper Sandler (PIPR.US)$'s Harsh Kumar cut his Apple rating on Thursday, citing a weak macro environment in China that will dampen demand for iPhones.
We are concerned about handset inventories," Kumar said in a note, lowering his recommendation for Apple to neutral from overweight after holding a bullish view since March 2020. "Growth rates have peaked for unit sales," he said.
Kumar's downgrade follows a more bearish move by peers at Barclays Plc, where analysts led by Tim Long cut their rating to underweight on Tuesday.
$Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.US)$ shares rose by 0.51%, closing at $136.01. Its options trading volume is 0.40 million. Call contracts account for 65.7% of the whole trading volume.The most traded calls are contracts of $137 strike price that expire on January 5th. The total volume reaches 26,443 with an open interest of 4,359. The most traded puts are contracts of a $136 strike price that expires on January 5th; the volume is 17,615 contracts with an open interest of 6,150.
KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst John Vinh maintained an Outperform rating on AMD shares and raised the price target from $140 to $170, suggesting over 25% upside from current levels. The upward adjustment, the analyst said, is based on 44 times KeyBanc's 2024 earnings estimate.
AMD is positioned well to monetize the "genAI" market, which is estimated at $150 billion in 2027, said Vinh in the note. The ramp-up of the MI300X GPUs will likely help the company, with the new AI chip likely fetching revenue of $2 billion in 2024, he said.
With higher demand and greater supply, we believe there's an upward bias to this target," the analyst said. Long-term, AMD has the potential to take a 10%-15% share in the genAI market, translating to a revenue opportunity of about $20 billion, he added.
$QuantumScape (QS.US)$ shares rose by 43.08%, closing at $9.3. Its options trading volume is 0.38 million. Call contracts account for 73.7% of the whole trading volume.The most traded calls are contracts of $10 strike price that expire on January 5th. The total volume reaches 19,184 with an open interest of 48. The most traded puts are contracts of a $7.5 strike price that expires on January 5th; the volume is 8,542 contracts with an open interest of 277.
Shares of QuantumScape jumped over 40% Thursday after Volkswagen's battery subsidiary said lab tests of QuantumScape solid-state batteries showed promising results.
The tests are another step toward getting the next-generation batteries that offer longer driving ranges and shorter charging times into electric cars.
Unusual Stock Options Activity
Some notable call activity is being seen in $DraftKings (DKNG.US)$, which is primarily being driven by activity on the 15-Mar-2024 call. Volume on this contract is 18,672 versus open interest of 112.
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Daily Active Index & Sector ETF Options
Source: Barchart, Unusual Whales, CNBC
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