U.S. stocks are trading lower this morning amid fresh concerns over the Senate's proposed plan to delay corporate tax cuts until 2019. Among the stocks making moves today are entertainment powerhouse Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), car rental company Hertz Global Holdings, Inc (NYSE:HTZ), and global e-commerce concern Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA). Here's a closer look at what's moving shares of DIS, HTZ, and BABA.
Shares of Walt Disney are trading higher this morning, as high hopes for a strong slate of 2018 films is overshadowing a fourth-quarter earnings miss. The stock is up 2.8% to trade at $105.55, and DIS is now on pace to settle above its 20-week moving average for the first time since late July.
Ahead of earnings, speculative players were showing some skepticism toward DIS. The security's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.47 ranks in the highest percentile of its annual range. This suggests an extreme preference toward short-term puts over calls.
Hertz Globalreported a third-quarter earnings beat after Thursday's close -- but the stock has erased a big pre-market rally to trade down 0.1% at $19.99, falling well short of the options market's predicted post-earnings move. That said, HTZ is still up about 135% from its late-June lows.
Data from the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) shows HTZ with a 10-day call/put volume ratio of 2.85, ranking in the 88th percentile of its annual range. This suggests that options traders were buying calls over puts at a faster-than-usual clip during the past two weeks.
Alibaba Group stock is soaring after hedge fund Third Point disclosed late Thursday that it has raised its stake in BABA by roughly 47% to 6.6 million shares. This news comes just ahead of the highly anticipated Singles Day shopping event, set to commence tomorrow morning. BABA stock was last seen up 0.6% at $186.21, trading just below last week's record high of $191.22.
Analysts following Alibaba stock are looking optimistic, with all 19 sporting "buy" or "strong buy" recommendations. Despite a drop in short interest from the stock's July 15 record high of 140.81 million shares, there are still 133.94 million shares sold short. This represents 11 days' worth of pent-up buying demand, at Alibaba stock's average daily pace of trading.