TiVo Picks Up Determined Call Buyers

By David Russell, reporter at OptionMonster

ALVISO, Calif. (TheStreet) -- TiVo(TIVO Quote) dropped on a weak earnings report this week but the bulls wouldn't be deterred in buying calls.

OptionMonster's tracking program picked up determined call-buying Wednesday as the digital-video stock probed its lows during the session. One trader amassed 7,000 February 20 calls for 15 cents as the shares made successively lower lows.

TiVo fell 6.84% to $10.22 on Wednesday after reporting weak revenue and forecasting more of the same in the next quarter. The stock has been torn between two conflicting forces: bearishness resulting from weak revenue and customer defections, and bullishness about its legal battles with Dish Network(DISH Quote).

Tivo has now returned to the level where it traded after gapping higher on June 3 after a favorable court ruling. The call buyer was apparently making a low-cost bet on the shares staging a 97% rally by February expiration.

Other investors were more conservative. Our systems detected new money flowing into the May 15 calls, which traded 1,760 times, mostly for 80 cents. The February 12.50 calls, January 10 calls and December 12.50 calls also were active, but volume was below open interest.

Overall options volume in the stock was almost six times greater than average, with calls outnumbering puts by 10 to 1.

Another potentially bullish catalyst may be emerging from TiVo's new strategic relationships with Google(GOOG Quote) and Virgin Media(WMED Quote).