The bulls came back to Autodesk in a huge way on Friday and quickly racked up some nice gains.
optionMONSTER's Heat Seeker tracking program detected heavy buying early in the December 44 calls, with a chunk of 10,000 contracts purchased for $0.88. Volume at the strike would surpass 17,000 by the end of the session, 179 times previous open interest at the strike.
These long calls lock in the price where the design-software maker can be purchased, letting investors cheaply position for a rally. They can also generate some nice leverage, which is exactly what happened because those December 44s ended the session up 42 percent to $1.25. (See our Education section)
The stock, by contrast, rose just 4.99 percent to $41.89. ADSK gapped higher on a strong earnings report in August, retreated, and was targeted by several highly profitable option trades the next month.
Friday's bullish paper followed another pullback in the share price, this time near the 50-day moving average. The company's next earnings report is scheduled for after the closing bell on Nov. 21.
Overall option volume was 15 times greater than average in the session. Calls accounted for a bullish 82 percent of the total.
(A version of this post appeared on InsideOptions Pro yesterday.)
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