Options Traders Looking for Novell to Be Taken Out (NOVL)

Shares of Novell Inc.

are flat on the session, currently trading at $5.69. The stock has been moving largely sideways for the past six months, though it is currently trading below the 50-day moving average. Options traders are buying calls on the name today, though, betting that software names in the $1 to $3 billion range will continue to be picked off. The October $6 call was just purchased 5,000 times, on the offer, on open interest of just 150 contracts. This signals new, bullish positioning on the name. Note that the stock saw call buying on the September $5.00 call last week as well. Options volume is running at 4x the daily average. Novell, Inc. develops, sells and installs enterprise software that is positioned in the operating systems and infrastructure software layers of the information technology industry. The company operates in four segments: Open Platform Solutions, Identity and Security Management, Systems and Resource Management, and Workgroup.