Bulls triple their money in $CRM

Option traders collected hefty profits on upside positions in Salesforce.com today after quarterly results blew past projections.

On March 29, Investitute’s proprietary programs detected the purchase of 10,260 June $115 calls for $5.50. The volume was part of a bullish call spread with shares at $113.20.

Those calls sold for $17.98 this morning, more than 3 times their purchase price. The stock rose 16.8% in the same time period, underscoring 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.

CRM was up 1.91% to $129.30 today. The cloud-software company lifted guidance after beating estimates on the top and bottom lines last night.