Ford Stock Higher on F-150 Production Buzz

Ford was forced to temporarily lay off thousands of workers after a fire

Shares of auto manufacturer Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) are higher in early trading, thanks to news reports from over the weekend that the company could resume production on the F-150 pick-up series by this Friday, following a recent fire at a parts factory. The fire caused more than 7,600 workers to be temporarily laid off, and at least two factories to halt production. In response, Ford stock is up 0.3% at $11.22 at last check.

Looking at the charts, F has been slowly rising on the charts since bottoming at $10.14 back on March 2, carving out a series of higher lows and highs. And while the stock remains well below the January peak of $13.33, the 50-day moving average has stepped in as solid support in recent weeks.

Despite historically being one of the worst stocks to own in May, traders have taken a bullish stance toward F in the options pits. Data from the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) shows the security with a 10-day call/put volume ratio of 4.01, ranking in the 93rd annual percentile. This suggests calls have been purchased over puts at a much faster-than-usual clip.

Echoing this, the security's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.57 ranks in the low 10th percentile of its annual range. In other words, speculative players have rarely been more heavily skewed toward calls over puts, looking at options that expire in the next three months.