Bulls quadruple money in $CCI

Option traders have stormed Crown Castle for big profits on upside positions.

On Feb. 20, Investitute’s market scanners identified the purchase of 4,000 18April $125 calls for $1 above open interest of 2,500 contracts with shares around $120.39. Investitute co-founder Jon Najarian cited the unusual activity at that time on CNBC’s “Halftime Report.”

Those calls traded for as much as $4.30 today, more than 4 times their purchase price. The stock rose 6.88% in the same time, illustrating how options can far outperform their underlying shares.

Long calls lock in the price where investors can buy a stock, letting them position for a rally at limited cost with the potential for significant leverage. They carry less risk than owning shares because the most that can be lost is the price of the options no matter how far the stock might fall.

CCI reached a session high of $129.10 this morning before pulling back to close at $127.40, off 1.14% on the day. The cellular-tower operator is up nearly 25% since Christmas.