Early Las Vegas Sands, Alcoa, Unitedhealth Options Action

Las Vegas Sands (LVS) shares dropped 60 cents, or more than 3%, to $17.74 during morning trading. The company could announce earnings figure sometime around Feb. 11, and did not report any news this morning. The March 20 calls crossed the tape 5,000 times, and it looks like an investor sold these options. The open interest in this series is 13,000 contracts, which could suggest the investor took profits and closed the short call position. The market continues to see implied volatility in casino names decline significantly. The March 20 calls have an implied volatility of below 55, compared to the 63-day realized volatility of 65%.

Alcoa (AA) shares remained relatively unchanged this morning at $15.51, as the stock seems to rebound slightly after dropped 11% Tuesday. The April 14 puts crossed 10,000 times out of the gate, and it looks like an investor is expressing moderate bullishness by calling for limited downside. The investor sold these calls for a premium of 66 cents.

Unitedhealth Group (UNH) is scheduled to announce earnings figures on Jan. 21 before the market opens, and did not announce any news this morning. The stock dropped 34 cents to $31.71 during the morning trading session, which sparked a call one-by-two. An investor bought one February 30 call and simultaneously sold twice as many February 34 calls in a bullish play (the investor paid $1.29 per spread).