IB Options Brief: Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG)

Posted September 7th, 2012 by Caitlin Duffy in Unusual Activity

Bullish Bets On Burritos And Handguns Payoff As CMG, SWHC Soar

CMG ñ Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.
Traders who initiated bullish bets on burrito maker, Chipotle Mexican Grill, on Thursday are sitting on serious overnight paper profits this morning, with shares in the restaurant operator up as much as 6.75% to hit $322.74 in the first half of the session. Some strategists hungry for an end-of-week rally in CMG looked to the weekly options contracts that are now in their final day of trading.

Call open interest at the Sep. 07 í12 $300 strike increased by 773 contracts since the prior session to total 1,501 contracts, with the majority of the fresh interest initiated by buyers paying an average premium of $0.30 per contract on Thursday morning. At the time of purchase, the calls were out-of-the-money given the underlying share price of roughly $294.00. But, by the close of trading on Thursday, the call options were squarely in-the-money with the stock ending the session at $302.33.

The rally in CMG shares yesterday lifted premium on the calls to around $3.40 each by the end of the day, an 11-fold increase over the $0.30 per contract paid by early-bird buyers on Thursday morning. Fast forward to Friday morning; the sharp rally in Chipotle shares now has those $300 strike weekly calls deep in-the-money with a bid/ask spread of $22.20/$23.20 as of 11:30 a.m. in New York. Selling-to-close the positions now at $22.20 would make for overnight gains of around 7,300%.

Traders could also decide to roll the calls out to maintain upside exposure in the name, or may hold the contracts through expiration and take delivery of the stock at an effective price of $300.30 a share. Like-minded bulls that purchased upside calls in the newly issued Sep. 14 í12 expiration weekly options yesterday are seeing big gains in the value of their positions, as well.

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Note: The material presented in this commentary is provided forinformational purposes only and is based upon information that isconsidered to be reliable. However, neither Interactive Brokers LLC norits affiliates warrant its completeness, accuracy or adequacy and itshould not be relied upon as such. Neither IB nor its affiliates areresponsible for any errors or omissions or for results obtained from theuse of this information. Past performance is not necessarily indicativeof future results.

This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for thepurchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument.Securities or other financial instruments mentioned in this material arenot suitable for all investors. Any opinions expressed herein are givenin good faith, are subject to change without notice, and are onlycorrect as of the stated date of their issue. The information containedherein does not constitute advice on the tax consequences of making anyparticular investment decision. This material does not take into accountyour particular investment objectives, financial situations or needsand is not intended as a recommendation to you of any particularsecurities, financial instruments or strategies. Before investing, youshould consider whether it is suitable for your particular circumstancesand, as necessary, seek professional advice.

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Note: The material presented in this commentary is provided forinformational purposes only and is based upon information that isconsidered to be reliable. However, neither Interactive Brokers LLC norits affiliates warrant its completeness, accuracy or adequacy and itshould not be relied upon as such. Neither IB nor its affiliates areresponsible for any errors or omissions or for results obtained from theuse of this information. Past performance is not necessarily indicativeof future results.

This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for thepurchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument.Securities or other financial instruments mentioned in this material arenot suitable for all investors. Any opinions expressed herein are givenin good faith, are subject to change without notice, and are onlycorrect as of the stated date of their issue. The information containedherein does not constitute advice on the tax consequences of making anyparticular investment decision. This material does not take into accountyour particular investment objectives, financial situations or needsand is not intended as a recommendation to you of any particularsecurities, financial instruments or strategies. Before investing, youshould consider whether it is suitable for your particular circumstancesand, as necessary, seek professional advice.