Analyst Upgrades Spur Options Traders to Action at SanDisk Corp.

Today’s tickers: SNDK, NTT, SNIC & DE SNDK  - SanDisk Corp. –  Options on the manufacturer of data storage products are popular today after analyst upgrades sent shares of the underlying stock up as much as 6.145% to an intraday high of $45.60. An analyst at UBS upped his share price target on SanDisk to $55.00 from $50.00, while analysts at Morgan Stanley reiterated their ‘overweight’ rating on SNDK with a share price target of $49.00. Options expiring in December are the most active as of 12:55 pm in New York with shares in the name trading 5.15% higher on the day at $45.18. Notable bullish interest in out-of-the-money calls caught our eye. More than 4,200 calls changed hands at the December $46 strike, surpassing volume represented by previously existing open interest at that strike. It looks like the majority of those calls were purchased for an average premium of $1.46 per contract. Call buyers stand prepared to profit in the event that SanDisk’s shares surge 5.05% over the current price of $45.18 to surpass the average breakeven point to the upside at $47.46 by expiration day in December. Meanwhile, near-term put action was largely generated by an investor purchasing a put spread. It looks like the trader picked up roughly 2,000 puts at the December $42 strike for a premium of $0.85 a-pop, and sold about the same number of puts at the lower December $41 strike for a premium of $0.57 each. Net premium paid for the spread amounts to $0.28 per contract and positions the trader to make money if shares slip beneath the effective breakeven price of $41.72 by expiration day. Maximum available profits of $0.72 apiece pad the investor’s wallet if SNDK’s shares plunge 9.25% lower to trade below $41.00 ahead of expiration in the final month of the year. …