Traders Make Bullish Bets on TJX

OptionMonster co-founder Pete Najarian provides options picks Monday, Wednesday and Friday in TheStreet.com's Deep in the Money Calls newsletter.

Mike Yamamoto, managing editor for OptionMonster.

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (TheStreet) -- Discount retailer TJX is seeing some bullish options activity a day after its board approved a $1 billion stock buyback plan.

TJX hit a new 52-week high earlier today before pulling back slightly to $38.45, still up about 1% on the session. Shares of the company, which operates such discount chains as T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods, began their steady uptrend at the end of January.

The average daily options volume in TJX is 916 contracts, which has been nearly tripled in the first hour of trading alone. All but 12 of the 2,657 options traded so far have been in the calls, according OptionMonster's real-time tracking systems.

The action was concentrated at the November 45 strike, where 2,510 calls have traded almost entirely on the asking price at $0.25 and $0.30. The average turnover at the strike is a mere 32 calls and existing open interest is only 106 contracts, indicating that today's trading represents new positions.

The stock would need to rise at least 18% for the calls to turn a profit. TJX is scheduled to release its next earnings announcement on Nov. 17, three days before those options expire.

Overall call volume has dwarfed the put total so far today by more than 220 to 1.

-- Reported by Mike Yamamoto of OptionMonster in New York.