Patient bulls run up the score in $ZNGA

Zynga (ZNGA) paid off for patient bullish option traders today.

Market Rebellion’s Unusual Option Activity Service flagged bullish option activity in the name on two consecutive sessions back in January:

–On Jan. 27, 14,500 June $6 calls were purchased for $0.61 to $0.68 above open interest of 2,817 contracts with shares at $6.01.
–On Jan. 28, 4,900 June $6 calls were bought for $0.62 to $0.70 below open interest but apparently added to volume in the same strike from the Jan. 27 trade, with shares at $6.12.

Those June $6 calls closed marked for $2.94 today, at least 4 times their purchase prices. The stock rose 60.73% in the same time frame, illustrating the kind of leverage that can be achieved 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.

ZNGA closed at $9.66, up 5.57% on the day after making a new multiyear high of $9.87 earlier in the session. The social-game developer’s shares surged today after it announced it would be making a $1.8 billion acquisition of Peak.