Baidu Options Abuzz on Reports of Agreement with Facebook

Today’s tickers: BIDU, PCS, JACK & CVC BIDU  - Baidu, Inc. –  Frenzied options trading ensued at Baidu today on reports the owner of China’s most-used search engine signed an agreement with Facebook Inc. to set up a social networking website in China. BIDU’s shares rallied nearly 5.0% at the start of the session to touch an intraday- and new all-time high of $148.92. Investors are favoring call options on the stock, trading more than 2.8 calls for each single put option in play today. Options expiring this Friday are the most heavily populated in early-afternoon trade, with two-way trading traffic evident at most strikes. Volume is heaviest at the April $150 strike, with more than 15,740 calls having changed hands there as of 12:40pm on previously existing open interest of 5,441 contracts. Call volume is substantial at the in-the-money April $145 and April $155 strikes today, as well. Investors have traded upwards of 11,100 calls at each of those strikes this afternoon. Options expiring in May are active, and provide traders the opportunity to take positions on the stock in advance of the company’s first-quarter earnings report on April 27, 2011. Medium-term optimists scooped up call options at sky-high strikes in anticipation of continued bullish movement in Baidu’s shares through June expiration. Investors picked up more than 1,100 calls as high as the June $190 strike for an average premium of $0.95 a-pop. Call buyers at this strike make money if shares in BIDU spike 28.2% higher in the next couple of months to top the average breakeven price of $190.95 by expiration day in June. Options implied volatility on the Beijing-based company increased 11.2% to 47.03% as of 1:00pm in New York, with overall options volume on the stock exceeding 99,930 contracts. PCS  - MetroPCS Communications, Inc. –  The…