Options traders are positioning ahead of a busy earnings week. Delta Air Lines and PepsiCo headline the calendar. Both carry low short interest — 3.5% and 2.2% of free float respectively. That suggests sentiment is not aggressively bearish. But earnings can flip that fast.
Delta Air Lines carries a $60.6 billion market cap. Availability of shares to borrow sits near 975% of short interest. That means puts are cheap and easy to finance. Traders watching travel demand data will likely use options to hedge before the print.
PepsiCo tells a different story. Borrow availability is essentially unlimited. Short sellers have largely stepped aside. Options flow into earnings may lean bullish, with call activity a cleaner expression of upside.
Analysts raised targets on both Tesla and CrowdStrike this week. TSLA short interest sits at 2.9% of free float. CRWD is similarly low at 2.9%. Elevated analyst targets often spark call buying. Watch for near-term call sweeps in both names.
Perrigo stands out as the contrarian signal. Short interest hit 13.5% of free float — the highest in this group. Borrow cost is rising. That combination historically attracts protective put buyers. Options activity there deserves close monitoring.
This is not financial advice.
ORTEX Market Intelligence content is generated by AI from a snapshot of ORTEX's proprietary data. Content is informational only and does not constitute investment advice.
