$HCA bulls quintuple their money

It took less than a week for traders to rack up exponential gains in HCA Healthcare.

Last Thursday, Investitute’s market scanners identified the purchase of 2,600 March $95 calls for $2.25 with shares at $92.61. Volume was well above the strike’s open interest of 1,913 contracts, indicating that this was fresh buying.

Those calls sold for $11.29 this morning, 5 times their purchase price. The stock rose 13.4% at the same time, 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.

HCA reached a 52-week high of $106.84 this morning before settling back to close at $101.45, up 3.92% on the day. The health-care services company beat estimates on the top and bottom lines before the market opened.