A Closer Look at Lam Research's Options Market Dynamics

Investors with a lot of money to spend have taken a bearish stance on Lam Research LRCX.

And retail traders should know.

We noticed this today when the trades showed up on publicly available options history that we track here at Benzinga.

Whether these are institutions or just wealthy individuals, we don't know. But when something this big happens with LRCX, it often means somebody knows something is about to happen.

So how do we know what these investors just did?

Today, Benzinga's options scanner spotted 18 uncommon options trades for Lam Research.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 27% bullish and 72%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 2 are puts, for a total amount of $81,172, and 16 are calls, for a total amount of $798,494.

Expected Price Movements

Taking into account the Volume and Open Interest on these contracts, it appears that whales have been targeting a price range from $800.0 to $885.0 for Lam Research over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

Looking at the volume and open interest is an insightful way to conduct due diligence on a stock.

This data can help you track the liquidity and interest for Lam Research's options for a given strike price.

Below, we can observe the evolution of the volume and open interest of calls and puts, respectively, for all of Lam Research's whale activity within a strike price range from $800.0 to $885.0 in the last 30 days.

Lam Research Call and Put Volume: 30-Day Overview

Significant Options Trades Detected:

About Lam Research

Lam Research is one of the largest semiconductor wafer fabrication equipment, or WFE, manufacturers in the world. It specializes in the market segments of deposition and etch, which entail the buildup of layers on a semiconductor and the subsequent selective removal of patterns from each layer. Lam holds the top market share in etch and holds the clear cut second share in deposition. It is more exposed to memory chipmakers for DRAM and NAND chips. It counts as top customers the largest chipmakers in the world, including TSMC, Samsung, Intel, and Micron.

In light of the recent options history for Lam Research, it's now appropriate to focus on the company itself. We aim to explore its current performance.

Present Market Standing of Lam Research

• Trading volume stands at 168,230, with LRCX's price up by 0.11%, positioned at $852.23.
• RSI indicators show the stock to be may be approaching overbought.
• Earnings announcement expected in 71 days.

What Analysts Are Saying About Lam Research

In the last month, 5 experts released ratings on this stock with an average target price of $888.4.

• An analyst from Goldman Sachs persists with their Buy rating on Lam Research, maintaining a target price of $912.
• An analyst from Cantor Fitzgerald has revised its rating downward to Neutral, adjusting the price target to $830.
• An analyst from Stifel persists with their Buy rating on Lam Research, maintaining a target price of $950.
• An analyst from Needham has decided to maintain their Buy rating on Lam Research, which currently sits at a price target of $900.
• An analyst from Raymond James persists with their Outperform rating on Lam Research, maintaining a target price of $850.

Options are a riskier asset compared to just trading the stock, but they have higher profit potential. Serious options traders manage this risk by educating themselves daily, scaling in and out of trades, following more than one indicator, and following the markets closely.

If you want to stay updated on the latest options trades for Lam Research, Benzinga Pro gives you real-time options trades alerts.