SMCI Flies on No Bad News, Intel Removes CEO, and Options Volume Follows Both 

Two of the top trending stocks were making waves in the options market Monday, in part after they were in the news. $SUPER MICRO COMPUTER INC(SMCI)$   climbed 29% intraday after news about its auditing and financial situation came out Monday. The data-center cooling tower firm said its Board of Directors formed a committee that has found no issues but recommended a new CFO.

The news is positive for investors watching SMCI face possible delisting after multiple deadline misses to file its Fiscal year report for the period ending in June.

$Intel(INTC)$   shares climbed nearly 6% intraday before falling back after news that it would remove its current CEO Pat Gelsinger, after less than 4 years. Gelsinger came on in 2021 to turn around the U.S. chipmaking giant, but the firm lost market share to Nvidia, and attempts to take on TSMC by making more chips at home did not help. As a sign of how far the firm has fallen, INTC lost 50% this year, and the stock was removed from Dow Jones Index.

Intel was the eighth-highest stock in the market, ranked by options trading volume, with 623k contracts changing hands. Looking through the options chain on moomoo, the highest volume trading was 25C contracts due this Friday Dec. 6th, going at about 0.21C/share for 100 shares. The contracts allow holders to buy INTC shares at $25, currently going for $23.

In positive percentage gain stock news, Super Micro news sent the stock flying, and SMCI options volume went with it, despite this year's troubles.

The Firm's previous auditor, Ernst and Young, resigned on October 24th after the auditor alleged there were accounting and governance issues at SMCI that would hold back its year-end report filing. According to SMCI's press release, this was a known issue, and the firm hired a special committee of lawyers at Cooley LLP and forensic accountants at Secretariat Advisors, LLC back in July.

"In late July 2024, EY communicated to the Audit Committee concerns about several matters relating to governance, transparency, and completeness of communications to EY, and other matters about the Company’s internal control over financial reporting, and that the timely filing of the Company’s annual report was at significant risk," the firm wrote. "In response, the Board appointed an independent special committee of the Board."

The firm said the special committee found that EY had misrepresented the facts, but the board would look to replace the CFO. Still, the firm said it did not have to redo any financial reports in 2024, though it gave no indication of when its new Auditor, BDO, would file the still late June report.

Options on the stock flew alongside the underlying price climb. It was the fourth highest equity in the market ranked on options contract volume, above even $Tesla Motors(TSLA)$  .

Short-term 4-days-to-expiration options led the volume, with 40C's attracting nearly 70k in options trading volume. The contracts give holders the right to buy shares of SMCI for $40 before the expiration date of Friday at a current price of $4.05/share for 100 shares.

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