Bulls Piling Into Sealed Air

By David Russell, reporter at OptionMonster

NEW YORK -- Sealed Air (SEE) has been rocking since August, and the bulls apparently think that it will keep on rolling.

OptionMonster's real-time scanners detected the purchase of 5,100 January 20 calls late in Friday's session for $3.60 and $3.70 in volume that dwarfed the strike's previous open interest of just 137 contracts. Sealed Air's shares immediately jolted higher and ended the session up 0.77% to $22.38.

These calls lock in the price where investors can buy shares. That will provide significant leverage if the bubble-wrap maker continues to climb this year, but even a relatively small decline could erase all their value.

Sealed Air has gone nowhere for more than a decade and remains far below its peaks from two years ago. But results have been improving in recent quarters, especially after the company divested businesses and took steps to improve profitability.

Total option volume was 11 times greater than average in the name on Friday. Calls outnumbered puts by a bullish 81-to-1 ratio.

Russell has no positions in SEE.

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.