Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of Informatica
So what: Oracle
This morning, put option volume exploded for February 2012 $37.50 puts. A put is profitable if a stock goes down and the volume action this morning is way outside of the ordinary.
Now what: The high put option volume is more of a short-term driver that traders look at to predict where a stock is headed in the next few hours or days. What Foolish investors should be more concerned about is a possible slowdown in business much like Oracle has seen. I would take a wait-and-see approach with shares hovering around a 52-week low right now and see how earnings play out in the next few quarters.
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