Traders constructive on Toll Brothers

By optionMONSTER May 10, 2012, 06:05:28 AM EDT

Homebuilders have been bulletproof recently, and yesterday the bulls moved into Toll Brothers.

Our Heat Seeker tracking program detected heavy buying in the May 25 calls, which initially priced for $1.40. They later fetched as much as $2.15 as the stock pushed higher throughout the session.

Long calls lock in the price investors must pay to buy the stock. That gives them considerable leverage relative to the underlying share price. For example, TOL swung less than 7 percent in the course of yesterday's session, but those options appreciated by more than 50 percent. (See our Education section)

The stock has remained strong all year and barely flinched as European worries caused the S&P 500 to swoon in recent sessions. Most companies in the industry and related businesses, including home-improvement retailers and suppliers of building materials , have also outperformed.

TOL closed at $26.96, up 3.37 percent on the day. At one point in the session the stock touched its highest price since September 2008.

Overall option volume was 5 times greater than average yesterday, with calls outnumbering puts by more than 10 to 1.

(A version of this post appeared on InsideOptions Pro yesterday.)




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: XHB



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