Amer Sports Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:AS)

Key Points

• Amer Sports saw a massive increase in options trading, with a record 24,526 put options acquired, marking a 1,177% increase from average volumes.
• Major institutional investors have significantly increased their positions in Amer Sports, including Barclays PLC raising its stake by 2,954.6% during the fourth quarter.
• The company recently reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.06, surpassing forecasts, with a year-over-year revenue growth of 23.4%, amounting to $1.24 billion.

Amer Sports, Inc. (NYSE:AS - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders acquired 24,526 put options on the company. Thisisanincreaseof1,177% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,921 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its holdings in Amer Sports by 139.9% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 3,887,480 shares of the company's stock valued at $150,679,000 after purchasing an additional 2,267,066 shares in the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP lifted its holdings in Amer Sports by 64.8% in the 2nd quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 3,880,649 shares of the company's stock valued at $150,414,000 after purchasing an additional 1,526,314 shares in the last quarter. Candlestick Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Amer Sports by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Candlestick Capital Management LP now owns 3,864,510 shares of the company's stock valued at $108,052,000 after purchasing an additional 63,078 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in Amer Sports by 32.5% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,747,775 shares of the company's stock valued at $145,264,000 after purchasing an additional 918,361 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Scopus Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Amer Sports in the 2nd quarter valued at about $108,562,000. 40.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amer Sports Price Performance

NYSE AS traded up $4.30 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $41.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,367,222 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,524,214. The stock has a market cap of $22.98 billion, a PE ratio of 101.22, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 3.31. Amer Sports has a fifty-two week low of $13.16 and a fifty-two week high of $41.56. The company's 50-day moving average is $37.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 1.60.

Amer Sports (NYSE:AS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 19th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.18 billion. Amer Sports had a net margin of 3.93% and a return on equity of 6.87%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 23.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.05 EPS. Amer Sports has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.770-0.820 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 0.200-0.220 EPS. Analysts forecast that Amer Sports will post 0.46 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on AS shares. KGI Securities set a $44.30 price target on shares of Amer Sports and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Amer Sports from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Amer Sports from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $35.00 price objective on shares of Amer Sports and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Amer Sports from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $40.29.

Amer Sports Company Profile

Amer Sports, Inc designs, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells sports equipment, apparel, footwear, and accessories in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, China, and the Asia Pacific. It operates through three segments: Technical Apparel, Outdoor Performance, and Ball & Racquet Sports.