UBS initiated coverage of CHPT with a “buy” rating
UBS initiated coverage of ChargePoint Holdings Inc (NYSE:CHPT) stock with a “buy” rating and $9 price target earlier today. The security blasted out of penny stock territory in response, last seen up 7.1% to trade at $5.19. Overhead pressure at the 20-day moving average remains, however, and CHPT is still carrying a more than 45% deficit for 2023.
Options traders are already placing their bets. So far, 53,000 puts and 34,000 calls have exchanged hands, volume that is six times the intraday average amount. The weekly 9/29 5.50-strike call and 5-strike put are the two most active contracts, with new positions being opened there.
Short-term options traders have been more bearish than usual. This is per ChargePoint stock’s Schaeffer’s put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.15, which stands in the 92nd percentile of annual readings.
Short sellers have been piling on, too. Short interest added 7.3% in the last two reporting periods, and the 70.31 million shares sold short make up 23.2% of the security’s available float.