Beyond Meat Attracts Bulls as Options Debut

The Wall Street rookie has yet to close a session lower

Vegan burger specialist Beyond Meat Inc (NASDAQ:BYND) began trading on the Nasdaq last Thursday, May 2, to much fanfare. Since then, the equity has yet to close a session in the red, and is now trading at more than three times its initial public offering (IPO) price of $25. What's more, BYND options began trading today -- here's how the options crowd is speculating on the Wall Street freshman.

BYND stock opened at $46 per share on its first day of trading, and yesterday touched a record intraday high of $85.45. The stock was last seen 3.1% higher on the day, trading at $81.61.

It looks like options traders are rolling the dice on significantly more upside for Beyond Meat shares. So far today, more than 4,000 calls have crossed the tape, compared to just under 2,900 put options.

Most popular are the May 90 and 100 calls, followed by the June 90 and 100 calls. Buyers of these options expect BYND stock to surmount the $90 and/or $100 level by the calls' respective expiration dates. A move above the century mark would put BYND at four times its IPO price.

Meanwhile, it looks like one investor may be employing calls to roll the dice on a short-term ceiling for BYND. Out of the gate this morning, symmetrical blocks of 90 contracts traded at the June 90 and 95 calls. Digging deeper, it seems the trader may have sold the June 90 calls to open, and hedged their bets by simultaneously buying to open the June 95 calls. In other words, the trader likely initiated a bear call spread on BYND for a net credit of $1 per pair of options, which the speculator can keep as long as the shares stay south of $90 through the close on Friday, June 21, when the options expire.