$WW bulls quadruple money

Option traders turned quick profits on upside positions in Weight Watchers that expired today.

On April 30, Investitute’s market scanners found that 3,000 Weekly $21 calls expiring this afternoon were bought for $0.80 to $0.95 with shares at $19.51. This was clearly fresh buying, as open interest in the strike was only 879 contracts before the activity appeared.

Those calls traded for as much as $3.30 today, about 4 times their average purchase price. The stock rose 24.65% in the same time frame, a large move but nowhere near that of its options on a relative basis.

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.

WW jumped 13.05% to $22.96 today. The weight-loss company surpassed revenue expectations after the market closed yesterday.