Bulls turn quick gains in $UNIT

Bullish option traders doubled their money in Uniti ahead of its quarterly results in less than two weeks.

Just yesterday, Investitute’s market scanners identified the purchase of 9,568 May $17.50 calls for $0.35 to $0.45 with shares at $17.05. Volume was well above the strike’s open interest of 7,823 contracts, indicating that this was fresh buying.

Those calls traded for $0.90 today, more than 2.5 times their initial purchase price. The stock rose 5.3% at the same time, illustrating the kind of leverage that can be obtained quickly 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.

UNIT jumped 4.14% to $17.84 today. The real-estate investment trust, which focuses on wireless infrastructure, reports earnings on May 10 after the market closes.