AVGO dominates options desks Thursday. Shares in Broadcom fell roughly 15% after revenue guidance disappointed. The June 18 options chain shows deep put open interest piling in at strikes well below the current price. Analysts are split — Oppenheimer raised its target to $535, while Macquarie downgraded to Neutral with a $437 target.
The sell-off wiped an estimated $300bn from Broadcom's market cap. Short interest remains low at just 1.1% of free float. That means the pain is almost entirely in options, not traditional short books.
TEM is the opposite story. Tempus AI shares surged Thursday on no clear fundamental catalyst. Yet short interest stands at a hefty 30.9% of free float. Its June 18 chain shows large open interest on $40 puts — 4,193 contracts — suggesting shorts are hedging via options, not just stock. Availability sits at just 28.9%, meaning borrow is tight.
NU announced a $1 billion share buyback. Shares rose. Short interest is a modest 4.4% of free float, and the put/call picture looks clean. Options traders appear to be fading the buyback pop via short-dated puts.
SNAP caught a bid on news of the Illumix AR acquisition. Short interest is 10.2% of free float. Availability is very high at 564%, meaning shorts are well-supplied with borrow. The options market shows June expiries active across multiple strikes, indicating traders are positioning around near-term volatility from the deal news.
Across the board, the June 18 expiry is the focal point this week. The Broadcom dislocation is the clearest options signal of the session.
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.
