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Snap could be about to, well, snap.
Shares of the social giant are up a whopping 118% this year heading into its earnings report on Tuesday after the bell. The options market is implying a 15% move in either direction for the stock after those results. That pales in comparison to its average 20% jolt after earnings, according to RiskReversal.com founder Dan Nathan.
“This stock has had some massive, massive moves on earnings, and we just have a couple key levels I think are worth looking at,” Nathan said Monday on CNBC’s “Options Action.” “It’s kind of stayed in this nice uptrend. It just kind of broke down through that channel. The momentum seems to be coming out a little bit.” Snap shares were up as much as 5% during Tuesday’s trading session.
The trader added that, as enticing as Snap’s recent climb might seem to growth-seeking investors — like the ones that drove call option volume, or bullish bets, in Snap to 1½ times of the put option volume — the stock is up against a few different kinds of resistance.
“I want to make one really important point: Wall Street analysts hate this stock,” he said. Currently, Wall Street analysts have four buy ratings, 24 hold ratings and six sell ratings on Snap, according to FactSet.
“It’s at a pretty key level here, right about 12 bucks or so,” Nathan said, pointing to the chart. “It’s obviously been in this big downtrend, so the stock is hitting up against some long-term technical resistance right here.”
Shares of Snap are up nearly 120% for 2019, but have lost more than 22% in the last 12 months.
Disclosure:CNBC parent NBCUniversal is an investor in Snap .
