Calls Purchased on St. Joe; Stock Jumps 10% (JOE)

Shares of The St. Joe Company JOE are spiking higher today, currently higher on the session by 10.22%, trading at $19.62. While stock volume is running extraordinarily high (4.70x the 10-day daily average volume), it is the options activity that is even more interesting. Exactly one hour before the stock's recent spike took place, 7,500 January 2011 $19.00 calls were purchased, on the offer, for $0.65. This trade, which accounts for 14x the open interest, is now reaping a hefty gain, already trading $1.55 bid/at $1.70—a 138% gain in under an hour. Volume on the strike has since risen to over 9,000 contracts. The St. Joe Company is a real estate development company. The company owns approximately 577,000 acres of land concentrated primarily in Northwest Florida. St. Joe is engaged in town and resort development, commercial and industrial development and rural land sales. It also has interests in timber. The company operates in four segments: Residential Real Estate, Commercial Real Estate, Rural Land Sales and Forestry.