IB Options Brief: Motorola Solutions, Inc. (MSI) & AstraZeneca PLC (AZN)

Posted May 18th, 2012 by Caitlin Duffy in Unusual Activity

MSI ñ Motorola Solutions, Inc.
No sign of May flowers for investors in Motorola Solutions, Inc., with shares in the provider of data communications and telecommunications equipment down roughly 9.0% since the start of the month. A burst of put buying on MSI this morning suggests some traders expect the price of the underlying shares to continue to slide in the near term. Shares in Motorola Solutions are currently down 0.85% at $47.47 as of 12:00 p.m. in New York.

Put buyers looked to the June $47 strike, picking up around 1,200 lots at an average premium of $1.41 apiece, and more than 3,200 put options at the lower June $46 strike at an average premium of $0.93 each. Traders long the $47 strike put start making money should MSIís shares decline another 4.0% to breach the average breakeven point at $45.59, while $46 strike put options are profitable given a 5.1% bearish move in the share price to $45.07.

Executives at Motorola Solutions are scheduled to speak at the Barclays Global Technology, Media and Telecommunications Conference next Wednesday and the Sanford C. Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference on June 1st.

AZN ñ AstraZeneca PLC
Put buying on the maker of Crestor and other brand name pharmaceuticals this morning suggests shares in the name, which currently trade 0.60% lower on the session at $41.41, may have further to fall in the next four weeks. AstraZeneca popped up on our scanners today after roughly 1,000 puts were purchased at the Jun. $40 strike for a premium of $0.46 each.

The trader or traders snapping up the contracts are prepared to profit at June expiration should the price of the drug makerís shares decline another 4.5% to settle below the breakeven point at $39.54.

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