GoPro Inc Options Debut Not Quite Rocking

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GoPro Inc (NASDAQ:GPRO) has been one of the hottest stocks since the company went public on June 26 at the IPO price of $24. The stock more than doubled to $49.90 on the third day of trading, though it fell slightly last week. However, options trading activity in GoPro has been quiet. The San Mateo-based company’s options became eligible for trading on Monday.

Less than 25,000 GoPro option contracts traded on debut

As of 3:20 p.m. EDT on Monday, about 24,000 option contracts were traded, Interactive Brokers chief market analyst Andrew Wilkinson told The Wall Street Journal. The camera maker couldn’t even make it to the top 50 most actively traded options contracts. That’s a muted response, said Wilkinson. In contrast, on the first day of Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR)’s options trading in November last year, more than 122,000 options changed hands. In the next five days, the microblogging company saw the average daily option volume of 76,000 contracts.

Perhaps investors are staying away due to the record high U.S. equities. The Dow recently surpassed 17,000 for the first time. Anyway, call options outpaced puts by two-to-one in GoPro’s quiet options activity. That means there are two times as many bulls as there are bears. According to a statement from the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), initial options will expire in July, August, October and January. The position limit was set at 75,000 contracts. July $45 call options were most in demand on Monday.

Short sellers betting against GoPro

The quiet options activity has surprised the markets, especially as short sellers are betting aggressively against the stock. As GoPro shares continued to rise, short sellers have already borrowed almost 100% of shares available to them. According to Astec Analytics, the cost of borrowing has shot up, and is currently one of the highest in the market.

In the first five days of going public, GoPro stock saw an average daily trading volume of about 38 million. That’s the fifth highest volume among the 5,000 U.S.-based companies in the same period. The camera maker generated $49 million in profits on revenues of $966 million in the 12 months ending March, 2014, according to the company’s regulatory filings.

GoPro shares rose 0.77% to $44.30 in early trading session Tuesday.

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