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Technology Stocks : COMS & the Ghost of USRX w/ other STUFF -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scrapps who wrote (13174)	2/27/1998 8:35:00 PM
From: Moonray	Respond to of 22053

U.S. OPTIONS FOCUS/Bullish plays in 3Com Friday February 27, 7:11 pm Eastern Time CHICAGO, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Call buying in 3Com Corp (COMS.0) options heated up Friday as investors positioned themselves for a rebound in the stock, traders said. "There are a lot of bullish buyers of calls in 3Com," said a market maker at the Pacific Exchange. "People are expecting earnings to be in line or better." With 3Com quarterly earnings due out in late March, buying upside calls is an inexpensive way to participate in the market ahead of the results, he said, adding that trade in the options has gained momentum in the past several weeks. At around $36 a share, the stock is off more than 50 percent from its highs of a year ago, the trader noted. Most of the action Friday was in the April 40 calls, which saw volume exceed 9,500 contracts. The options were priced at 1-1/4 to 1-1/2. Implied volatility for the options is holding in the low-50-percent area, near its average of the past year, the market maker said. In other individual options, 15,000 puts on Occidental Petroleum Corp (OXY - news) shares changed hands at the Chicago Board Options Exchange when a big position was liquidated. A customer who bought the puts in conjunction with a purchase of the stock last week closed both the option and stock positions today, a market maker at the exchange said. At the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, more than 57,000 options on Dell Computer Corp (DELL - news) had traded by early afternoon, putting volume near the exchange's all-time record in that company's options, an exchange spokeswoman said. She said traders linked the brisk turnover to a Lehman Brothers analyst's increase in the target price for the stock to $156 a share. The stock was up 5 to 138-1/4. Last week, Dell reported its earnings rose more than 50 percent in the fourth quarter and announced a two-for-one stock split. o~~~ O