GoPro Inc (NASDAQ:GPRO) stock has been climbing steadily over the last few days, soaring more than 200% beyond its initial public offering in June. According to Investors.com, the stock is this year’s best-performing IPO, at least so far anyway.
GoPro outperforms almost all other stocks
The company’s stock hit a new high this week and just keeps climbing higher and higher, now closing in on $80 a share. Investors.com gave GoPro stock an “IBD Relative Strength” rating of 99. That means the digital camera maker’s stock has outperformed 99% of all others.
Already, GoPro has earned its way into a major index. It will join the Russell 2000 Index on Sept. 30. Investors use that index to measure how U.S. small cap stocks are performing.
GoPro boosted by Google investment
This week Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) said it was investing millions of dollars into YouTube. Analyst Hitha Prabhakar said on Fox Business News that Google’s investment is why GoPro is soaring this week.
The analyst believes that the investment into YouTube provides an opportunity for GoPro because more amateur video producers will be interested in buying GoPro’s action video cameras to shoot YouTube videos, according to The Street.
Google said it decided to invest more in YouTube to keep talent from leaving the platform and shifting their videos to competitors. The search giant has just launched a new plan to help stars make more high quality videos for YouTube. Google said it will assist in producing content and match up YouTube stars with Hollywood producers.
Options activity on GoPro picks up
Schaeffer’s Investment Research reports that GoPro is now within the list of the 20 stocks with the highest total options volume over the last ten trading days. The website said that the video camera maker’s stock saw a surge in call-buying on Tuesday.
GoPro shares are now classified as being difficult to borrow, which is why options activity has surged, particularly for calls. The stock’s volume has skyrocketed along with its share price. As of this writing today, more than 10.6 million shares of GoPro had already changed hands. The average daily volume is 6.58 million shares, according to Google Finance.
Schaeffer’s also said that GoPro’s 30-day-at-the-money implied volatility climbed by 7.1%, hitting 75%. This suggests that demand for short term options is elevated. The research firm reported that the most active strike is the deep in-the-money October 45 call, with more than 6,000 contracts on the tape Tuesday. Investors who bought those contracts are assuming that the stock will keep moving higher through the end of trading on Oct. 17.
The firm also said there’s “considerable buy-to-open activity” on GoPro’s weekly 9/26 and 10/3 72 strike calls as well.
