Google Postpones Android Reveal, "Now is Not the Time to Celebrate"

"Now is not the time to celebrate," Google said in a message on its website

The shares of Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) are up 0.5% at $1,441.58 this morning, after the company postponed this week's unveiling of its latest Android 11 mobile operating system, in light of protests and civil unrest over the killing of George Floyd last Monday. "We are excited to tell you more about Android 11, but now is not the time to celebrate," Google said Saturday in a message on its website.

The technology giant has been slowly digging itself out of its mid-March lows near the $1,088 level, finding support at its 20-day moving average in early April. From a wider perspective, in late February the shares hit an all-time-high of $1,530.74, a sure contributor to its now 30% year-over-year surplus.

Prior to Saturday's announcement, analysts were overwhelmingly optimistic toward the stock. Specifically, 31 of the 33 in coverage considered GOOGL a "buy" or "strong buy," compared to the remaining two sporting a tepid "hold." What's more, Google stock's 12-month consensus target price now sits at $1,525.22, a 6.4% premium to its current perch.

Meanwhile, puts have been extremely popular in the option pits. The equity's 50-day put/call volume ratio at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) now sits higher than 85% of readings from the past year, meaning puts have been picked up at a faster-than-usual pace. Echoing this, Google stock sports a Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.19, which sits just 4% from the highest percentile of its annual range, meaning short-term options traders have rarely been more put-biased as of late.