Advance Auto Parts Earnings Miss Hits Option Bulls

Call options on AAP have been popular

Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP) is trading down 7.9% this morning at $130.95, after the company reported adjusted earnings per share of $2, falling short of analysts' estimates of $2.21, while it also lowered the upper end of its full-year forecast. This earnings pullback would seem to be bad news for a number of options traders, who had been targeting calls in recent weeks.

For instance, data from the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) shows long calls have been popular for quite some time on AAP, with the 50-day call/put volume ratio of 1.97 ranking in the 99th annual percentile. Plus, the Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.84 ranks in the 10th annual percentile, meaning such a preference for short-term calls is unusual. In fact, peak open interest resides at the front-month August 145 call.

So far there haven't been any analyst adjustments on Advance Auto stock, but there is the potential for bear notes. Eleven of the 17 covering brokerage firms recommend buying the shares, hinting at the potential for downgrades following the disappointing turn in the earnings booth.

Plus, AAP shares were already underperforming coming into today, yesterday closing at their lowest point in over a year. In just the past six months, they've dropped almost 14%. To be sure, however, not everyone was bullish on the equity coming into today, since short interest popped 23.6% in the last reporting period.