OII Options Traders Turn Bullish Into Q3 Print

Oceaneering International reports Q3 results tomorrow, and the clearest positioning story this week is not in the short book but in the options market, where call demand has surged to its most extreme level of the year.

The put/call ratio has collapsed to 0.09, more than two standard deviations below its 20-day average of 0.14. That is the lowest hedging tilt OII options have seen in at least a year, the 52-week low is 0.01 and the high is 0.60, putting today's reading near the bullish extreme of the range. The move happened fast: the PCR was running at 0.16 through most of October before dropping sharply in the past two sessions. Whatever protection was being carried into the week has largely been unwound.

Short interest tells a quieter story. About 6.7% of the free float is sold short, down roughly 1.5% on the week and nearly 4% over the past month, a slow and steady reduction rather than a forced cover. Borrowing costs are negligible at around 0.50%, and the lending pool is wide open: availability relative to short interest is running near 900%, up from roughly 560% in mid-September. There is no squeeze setup here. Shorts have been trimming at a gentle pace, and anyone wanting to add to a short position faces no meaningful friction in the borrow market.

The recent insider activity leans in one direction only. CEO Roderick Larson sold 6,000 shares on October 1 across two open-market transactions at prices between $43.61 and $44.38, neither filed under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan. Director Paul Murphy sold 10,000 shares in August near $48, and several other officers sold in late July around $47 to $48. There has been no open-market buying among executives in the disclosed period. Net insider sales over the past 90 days total roughly $1.5 million in value, with shares net negative at just over 32,000. The sales cluster at prices above where OII now trades ($44.07, down about 1.6% on the week), which frames the current level as one where insiders have been taking money off the table rather than adding.

Analyst coverage remains cautious in tone even after a run of target upgrades. The most recent changes on file date from August, when Citigroup raised its target to $52 while keeping a Neutral rating. Barclays lifted to $47 in late July with an Equal-Weight stance. The consensus mean target of $46 is modestly above the current price, implying limited upside in Street models. The EV/EBITDA multiple is around 10.2x, down slightly over the past month, and the P/E is near 19.4x. The short score from ORTEX has drifted down to 51.6 from 52.6 a week ago, a small move but consistent with the gradual reduction in short positioning. Factor scores show a strong EPS surprise rank at the 71st percentile, with 90-day EPS momentum in the 62nd percentile, meaningful into a print day.

Earnings history adds relevant colour. The July Q2 print produced a 17% single-day gain, and an earlier 2026 release moved the stock 7.5% on the day. Both reactions were positive, which helps explain why options traders have positioned so heavily on the call side ahead of tomorrow's announcement. The two most recent quarterly prints have rewarded buyers rather than shorts.

Closest peers were mixed on the week: SLB gained about 2.5% and WFRD added nearly 3%, while TDW fell 7.3% and FTI dropped 2.5%. OII's 1.6% decline sits toward the softer end of the peer group, though not dramatically so given the sector's uneven week.

The question the data leaves open is whether the call-heavy options positioning, built on the back of two consecutive positive earnings reactions, encounters the same outcome when the Q3 numbers land tomorrow afternoon.