Large Wednesday Alibaba Call Buyer Almost In-The-Money

One options trader made a huge bet on Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA on Wednesday, and the buyer is already nearly in the money. At around 11:40 a.m. on Wednesday, a buyer stepped in and bought 3,000 Alibaba August 16 calls with an $85 strike price at the ask for $1.57. At that price, the trade represents a $471,000 position.

Alibaba shares were trading at around $82.33 at the time of the trade, but have since climbed to $84.32.

Alibaba received a boost on Wednesday from Credit Suisse, which reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its price target to $114, more than 35 percent upside from the stock’s current price.

In recent days, Alibaba has broken out to its highest closing levels since December of 2015. The stock is now within reach of its 52-week high of $86.42 from November.

Related Link: Differences In Opinion: Big Names Weigh In On Whether The Market Is Overvalued

Wednesday’s big call buyer must have high expectations for Alibaba’s Q2 earnings report, which is due out on August 10.

In the past year, Alibaba shares have remained mostly stagnant, up only 0.5 percent. In that same time, shares of U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN are up 53.7 percent.

Shares of Alibaba’s smaller Chinese rival JD.Com Inc(ADR) JD are down 36.0 percent in the past year.

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Disclosure: The author is long BABA.