There is no significant news on Fred's Inc. (NASDAQ: FRED) today, other than impending second-quarter earnings on Thursday before the open (analysts are expecting per-share earnings of 13 cents). The discount retailer has seen, however, 10,000 calls change hands on the November 15 strike, which is out of the money by $1.79. These positions were evidently sold to open, with the seller collecting a premium of 45 cents each.

So what's going on? Not much, other than a case of deja vu. It appears as though this same investor sold August 15 calls back in March. Now that the August series has expired, this trader is looking ahead to the November series. He will retain the full premium if FRED is trading below $15 at expiration. Breakeven for this trade is $15.45.

Beth works for The Options News Network (www.ONN.tv), which provides daily stock and options commentary. The above comments are not intended as trading advice.

Heavy option activity on Fred's (FRED) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.