FRBA Options Signal Flares After Earnings Slide

First Bank stock fell 10% following its late-April earnings print. Now unusual options activity and rapid short covering are painting an unusual picture for this small regional lender.

The most striking signal is in the options market. The put/call ratio hit 0.1 on April 30 — against a 20-day mean of just 0.01. That pushed the z-score to 3.0, a statistically extreme reading. For context, the 52-week PCR high is 2.14, so options activity on FRBA is typically near-zero. Any hedging demand at all stands out sharply.

Short Sellers Exit Fast

Short interest tells an equally clear story — but in the opposite direction. Shares short dropped 28.7% over the week to April 24, falling from roughly 215,500 to 153,664. That pace of covering has been sustained. By April 30, SI stood at just 0.62% of free float.

At under 1% of float, the absolute short position is small. But the speed of the exit is notable. Shorts cut their exposure by nearly a third in a single week — and kept cutting even as the stock fell 10% post-earnings.

Cost to Borrow Follows

Cost to borrow sat at 2.23% as of April 30, down 33% week-on-week. The lending market remains loose. Availability is extremely wide relative to the shares already borrowed, consistent with a borrow pool that has more than enough supply for what little short interest remains.