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Non-Tech : Any info about Iomega (IOM)? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cogito who wrote (50310)	3/16/1998 9:44:00 PM
From: KM	Respond to of 58324

Anybody see this? Options Buzz: Options Traders Spank Iomega; Pfizer Calls Hopping on New-Drug Hopes By Dan Colarusso Staff Reporter 3/16/98 1:48 PM ET With all the "telegraphing" of acquisitions and earnings disappointments provided by the options market, Friday's trading showed little hint of impending disaster at Iomega (IOM:NYSE). Overall options trading was busy, showing typical expiration-week traffic. The market's strength during the past month has produced heavy volume, especially on stocks that went barreling through their previous highs. Today, when the company announced that it would be operating cash-flow negative for the first quarter and lose between $10 million and $25 million, it provided the kind of stir that makes investors shudder. "The stock trades so aggressively, but there was nothing Friday," said Tom Burnett, the senior trading adviser at Wall St. Access, a New York discount brokerage. "In fact, there were more calls than puts traded Friday. I think the market was pretty surprised, so the stock's getting beaten up pretty badly." Halfway through another strong day in the overall market, Iomega, the maker of high-capacity portable disk drives, had fallen 1 9/16 to 7 1/16. Holders of the company's March 7 1/2 puts saw their contracts' value rise 7/16 ($43.75) to 1/2 ($50) in just three hours. More than 630 of the options changed hands. "With only a week left, people had probably given up on the 7 1/2 puts," Burnett said, referring to Friday's expiration of March equity options. The busiest Iomega option series was the April 7 1/2 puts. A bet on prolonged weakness, this series saw volume hit 1,500 early in the trading day and its price jumped 11/16 ($68.75) to 1 ($100). Iomega calls were busy, with people selling out of their positions and hoping to get back a little of their investment before the options expired worthless. The March 7 1/2 calls traded more than 375 contracts and fell 1 ($100) to 1/8 ($12.5