Rolling bullishness in Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY)

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY) is not due to announce its next earnings report until sometime in mid-April, but one investor is not finished with the stock and rolled out a long position, betting on further upside in the integrated oil name.

Out of the gate on Tuesday, an investor sold 27,000 in-the-money February 60 calls for roughly $17.25 per contract and simultaneously bought the same number of in-the-money May 60 calls for $18.20 per contract. Bullish investors paid 95 cents per spread for this roll-out.

The simplest explanation for this trade is that the investor sold to close the front-month calls (expiring in 10 days), and rolled out for exposure in the May 60 calls in anticipation of further upside in OXY shares. The open interest in the February 60 calls is currently 27,216 contracts, which is why it is quite possible that that this customer is selling to close.

OXY shares are currently trading up $1 to $77.30. The stock reached a 52-week high in November of around $83, and one investor boosted call volume today on a bullish bet that the stock could climb higher than its current level throughout the next three months, and possibly even experience further upside following its earnings report in a couple of months.

Bullish rolls like these do not indicate that all investors should run right out and buy OXY shares. However, it is interesting to note that one investor is rolling out a bullish play, and is possibly betting on the earnings power of OXY.