FedEx Stock Under Pressure After Surprise C-Suite Exit

FDX stock has gained 14% year-to-date already

The shares of FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) are down 3% in electronic trading, after the company's President and COO David Bronczek unexpectedly stepped down. Bronczek had just been named a director two weeks ago, and will now be replaced by Raj Subramaniam. Credit Suisse weighed in on the shake-up, noting that is creates "more questions than answers."

Today's drop threatens to disrupt what's been a solid 3.8% weekly gain for FedEx stock. What's more, since a two-year bottom of $150.99 on Dec. 26, FDX fought back to add 22% as of last night's close at $183.92. Widening the scope a bit, though, the equity still has a 12-month deficit of 25%.

For a stock that has struggled longer term, analysts sure seem entrenched in the bullish camp. Of the 18 brokerages in coverage of FDX, 14 rate it a "buy" or better, with zero "sells" on the books. Plus, the security's consensus 12-month price target of $223.12 is a 21% premium to last night's closing perch.

There's also pessimism in the options pits. FDX's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.01 sits in the 82nd percentile of its annual range. This suggests short-term options players have rarely been more put-heavy in the past year. More specifically, the February 150 put is home to peak open interest of 11,080 contracts -- of course, this contract is set to expire today.

Now might be the time to speculate on FDXwith put options. The security's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 23% stands higher than just 18% of other such readings from the past year, implying that near-term options are pricing in relatively low volatility expectations. Lastly, there's the stock's Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) of 84, revealing a tendency to make moves bigger than the options market was pricing in over the last year.