$SYMC bulls double their money

Option traders scored quick profits in Symantec today.

Investitute’s markets scanners identified heavy call buying in the same strike on back-to-back sessions two weeks ago:

–On Sept. 10, 7,000 November $20 calls were purchased for $1.20 to $1.28 against no open interest. Shares were around $19.84.
–On Sept. 11, 7,400 November $20 calls were bought for $1.17 to $1.37, mostly in one print of 5,968, with shares at $19.81.

Those calls traded for $2.50 this morning, more than twice their initial purchase price. The stock climed 10.79% in the same time frame, illustrating the kind of leverage that can be achieved with options.

It was the third winning trade in Symantec posted on Investitute in a little more than a month. Investitute co-found Pete Najarian chose SYMC as his final trade on CNBC’s “Halftime Report” last week.

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.

SYMC was up 3.78% to $21.69 today. The cybersecurity company announced this morning that it has finished an internal accounting investigation without requiring major revisions on its balance sheet.