$FDX calls double in hours

It took only a few hours for option traders to score big profits in FedEx (FDX) today.

Just this morning, our Unusual Activity scanners identified the purchase of 5,500 Weekly $160 calls expiring tomorrow, Feb. 14, for $0.42 to $0.90 above open interest of 2,817 contracts with shares at $157.61.

Those calls traded for as much as $2.34 today, at least 2.5 times their purchase prices. The stock rose 2.62% in the same time frame, showing how quickly options can far outpace gains in 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.

FDX is up 1.46% to $160.83 in the final hour of trade today.The delivery giant’s shares opened lower this morning but have rebounded sharply since then.