Bulls Come Back to Hard-Drive Maker OCZ

By David Russell, reporter at OptionMonster

NEW YORK -- OCZ Technology (OCZ) has been a monster stock in the past, and now the bulls are coming back to hard-drive maker.

OptionMonster's tracking systems show that buyers were targeting the June 8 calls Thursday, snapping up 5,000 contracts for 80 cents against open interest of just 613 options, so these are new positions. They also sold 2,500 June 10 calls for 22.5 cents but volume was below previous open interest at that strike and could indicate closing positions.

Calls lock in the price investors must pay for the stock, so they can deliver significant leverage if shares move in the right direction. The traders might have sold the June 10 calls to roll down to the lower strike, or both legs could have been new positions as part of a bullish call spread. Either way, the trader is expecting the stock to gain in the next three months.

OCZ fell 3.73% to $7.49 Thursday and is down 13% in the last month. The stock more than quadrupled between August 2010 and April 2011 but has been swinging wildly since then. It's now back near the same $7.50 level where it peaked in December and is trying to hold above its 200-day moving average, which some chart watchers may consider bullish.

Sentiment has also been positive in other companies in the same space, such as Western Digital and Seagate Technology, which make traditional hard drives. OCZ makes new-generation solid-state computer hard drives.

Overall option volume was 12 times greater than average in Thursday's session, with calls outnumbering puts by a bullish 29-to-1 ratio.

Russell has no positions in OCZ.

This commentary comes from an independent investor or market observer as part of TheStreet guest contributor program. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of TheStreet or its management.