U.S. OPTIONS/Yahoo vols remain bid, sector lifted
CHICAGO, April 6 (Reuters) - Implied volatility on Yahoo!
Inc. <YHOO.O> options remained well bid on Tuesday as the
underlying stock rallied to yet another record.
By 1122 CDT/1622 GMT, the stock was up 8-7/8 to 228, having
climbed as high as 244 earlier. It was the second most actively
traded stock after Dell Computer Corp. <DELL.O>.
Volatility, a key factor in determining options prices, was
trading around 121 percent for the nearby contract.
"Vols absolutely deserve to be up here," said Jesse Stamer,
a general partner at TradeNet and a designated primary market
maker at the Chicago Board Options Exchange.
"Yahoo has got to be one of the busiest and most volatile
stocks on the floor," he said, noting that speculators were
trading the options more than the stock to gain leverage. "I
think they can go higher still, because people expect
consolidation in the industry."
Yahoo recently agreed to buy Broadcast.com Inc. <BSCT.O>, a
broadcaster of audio and video programs via the Web, and
GeoCities Inc. <GCTY.O>, a community of more than 3.5 million
personal home pages.
"Broadcast.com and GeoCities vols are tracking Yahoo's,"
said Paul Foster, investment strategist and editor of
1010WallStreet.com.
He said volatility on Broadcast.com and GeoCities options
was trading at about 105 percent and 93 percent respectively.
"Vols will have to converge upon the closure of these
deals, so either Yahoo will have to come down or Broadcast.com
and GeoCities will have to go up," Foster added.
Elsewhere, trading in the April 45 calls on Dell were
extremely active for a second session, registering volume of
more than 14,000 contracts by midday.
Traders attributed the activity to bullish sentiment ahead
of the company's analysts' meeting this week and also to news
that the top supplier of corporate personal computers would
support Linux, an alternative to Microsoft Corp.'s <MSFT.O>
Windows software.
Dell stock was up 1-3/16 to 45-1/4.
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