Calls Active on Walgreen as Shares Pop (WAG)

Shares of Walgreen Co. WAG are higher on the session by 8.34%, currently trading at $32.88. The stock is popping higher today after the company's Q4 earnings topped analysts' expectations. Revenues rose 7.4% year-over-year to $16.87 billion versus the $16.84 billion consensus. Prescription sales, which accounted for 65.9% of sales in the quarter, climbed 6.5%, while prescription sales in comparable stores increased 1.6%. Traders are flocking to the calls today as well; in just the first 30 minutes 17,000 calls have traded versus only 9,000 puts. Both call and put volume is running significantly above the daily average. The stock is now sitting at the 200-day moving average, which should prove to be resistance on such an outsized move higher like this; WAG sets up as a good short here with a tight stop loss. Walgreen Co. is engaged in retail drugstore business. As of August 31, 2009, the company operated 7,496 locations in 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. During the fiscal year ended August 30, 2009 (fiscal 2009), the company opened or acquired 691 locations. Total locations do not include 337 convenient care clinics operated by Take Care Health Systems, Inc. within the company's drugstores. For more great research like this, as well as how to play it through options…please visit Benzinga's Options & Volatility Edge and Benzinga's Cash Generator.