Bearish option traders prep for Infosys (INFY) earnings

Infosys Technologies (NASDAQ: INFY) is scheduled to announce second-quarter earnings figures on Thursday morning, and at least one investor could be bracing for a worse-than-expected report.

Looking at the July 30-32.5 put spread, an investor expressed bearishness and bought the spread 20,000 times for 43 cents per spread with the stock at $35.65 a share. The July 30 puts were unchanged on the day and home to open interest of 885 contracts. The July 32.5 puts climbed 10 cents on the day and were home to open interest of 1,473 contracts. The volume weighted average price (VWAP) of the July 30 puts was 17 cents, and the July 32.5 puts had a VWAP of 60 cents (the investor bought the July 32.5 puts for 60 cents and sold the July 30 puts for 17 cents for a total debit of 43 cents for this trade).

The presence of bearish investors doesn’t surprise me too much, mainly because analysts expect INFY next-quarter earnings to drop around nine cents to 47 cents a share from 56 cents a share. Even though INFY earnings beat analysts' estimates by two cents last quarter, the bearish put buyer dominated options activity in the company yesterday. Normal daily options volume in INFY is approximately 11,000 contracts compared to the 46,000 contracts that changed hands yesterday.

The stock has rallied nearly 70% since dropping to $21.11 on November 20, but at least one investor bought downside protection a couple days before the company releases its earnings figures on a bet that INFY shares could drop to around $32 come July expiration. INFY shares fell approximately 70 cents on the day to $35.54.

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Jud Pyle

Jud Pyle is the Chief Investment Strategist for Options News Network (www.ONN.tv) and the portfolio manager of TheStreet.com Options Alerts. "Click here for a free trial for Options Alerts.

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