Options Pits Pop on Salesforce Beat-and-Raise

Salesforce posted strong second-quarter results

Shares of cloud software specialist Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) are 1.3% higher at $262.25 at last glance, pulling back from its open around the $271 mark, after posting better-than-expected earnings and revenue figures for the second quarter. In addition, the firm hiked its full-year outlook, and announced the departure of CFO Amy Weaver.

Options traders are attacking CRM in response. So far, 31,000 calls and 26,000 puts have been exchanged, which is already 9 times the average daily volume. The weekly 8/30 240-strike put is the most popular, followed by the 265-strike call in the same series.

Analysts are weighing in as well, with no less than 19 raising their price target. Morgan Stanley might be the most bullish of the bunch, moving from $320 up to $330 — a 25.8% premium to Salesforce stock’s current perch. 

On the charts, CRM briefly bounced above the $270 level for the first time since late-May. Though its price action is fluctuating wildly — possibly due to broader-market volatility following earnings from Nvidia (NVDA) — the security just moved back above its year-to-date breakeven mark and sports a more impressive 23% year-over-year rise.

 

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