$ATUS bulls double money

Option traders have dialed up large gains in Altice USA (ATUS).

On June 7, Investitute’s tracking systems detected the purchase of 2,500 September $26 calls for $1.30 as part of a bullish spread with shares at $24.26. Open interest in the strike was only 120 contracts before the trade occurred, showing that this was a new position. Investitute co-founder Pete Najarian cited even more buying in September $30 calls yesterday on CNBC’s “Halftime Report.”

Those calls last traded for $4.40 yesterday and are marked at $3.35 today, more than 2.5 times their purchase price. The stock rose 23% in the same time, illustrating the kind of leverage that can be achieved with options.

Long calls lock in the price where a stock can be purchased, gaining with a rally and providing leverage to the underlying shares. The contracts can quickly lose value if the stock stalls or pulls back but also carry less risk than owning the shares themselves.

ATUS reached $29.85 this morning but is now down 1% to $29.25. The broadband and video company has been trending upward since reporting earnings at the end of July and reached a 52-week high of $29.89 yesterday.