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Electronic Arts faces downside play

By optionMONSTER October 26, 2012, 03:29:22 AM EDT

One investor is bearish on Electronic Arts before next week's quarterly report.

optionMONSTER's Depth Charge monitoring system detected the purchase of 10,000 December 13 puts for $1.19 and the sale of an equal number of December 13 calls for $0.55. Volume was more than twice open interest at both strikes.

The trade cost $0.64 and is highly leveraged to downside in the videogame stock. If EA falls, the puts owned will appreciate and the calls sold short will lose value, while the opposite happens in the event of a rally. It's the equivalent of shorting about 1 million shares. (See our Education section)

EA fell 1.69 percent to $12.21 yesterday and has lost half its value in the last year. It's been trending steadily lower since early 2005, when the stock peaked over $70, as the company struggles to adapt to a market where games are bought online rather than in retail stores.

Quarterly results will be announced after the bell on Tuesday.

Overall option volume in the name was 35 times greater than average yesterday, with that big trade accounting for about 80 percent of the total.




The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.


This article appears in: Investing, Options

Referenced Stocks: EA



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