Trade bets Sony will hold onto gains
Sony has rebounded from quarter-century lows in recent months, and one trader is expecting it to hold onto those gains.
optionMONSTER's tracking systems detected the sale of 2,588 July 16 puts for $1.10 in less than 9 minutes on Friday. The volume was 8 times higher than the strike's open interest of just 325 contracts before the session began, indicating that this a new position.
These short puts are looking for Sony to stay above the $16 strike price through expiration in mid-July. If the stock falls below that level, the trader will face the obligation to buy shares at an effective price of $14.90 once the credit from the put sale is factored in. (See our Education section)
SNE fell 1.82 percent to $16.69 on Friday. The once-might electronics giant has been trending higher since trading below $10 in early December, the first time it had been in single digits since 1987 and a far cry from the levels above $150 it commanded at the height of the dot-com boom.
The stock reached an 11-month high of $18.06 on March 28 on hopes that the company was finally turning around. Shares have run higher on news ranging from the departure of Chairman Howard Stringer to the first major release of the PlayStation gaming console since 2006, as well as Japanese government stimulus measures that have boosted many domestic stocks .
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