Bulls look for L-3 gains to accelerate

L-3 Communications has been steadily climbing, and now the bulls are stepping in.

Some large blocks in the March 75 calls lit up optionMONSTER's systems yesterday, with buyers paying $0.15. More than 2,800 of those called traded against previous positioning of just 121 contracts.

These long calls lock in the entry price that investors must pay to buy a stock, so they can offer major leverage if it moves in the right direction. But they will expire worthless if no rally occurs. (See our Education section)

LLL is a leading supplier of a broad array of products and services used in a number of aerospace and defense platforms. It recently increased its quarterly dividend by 11 percent, and the stock has been working its way upward since trading below $60 back in October.

It ended yesterday's session down 0.3 percent at $70.74. More than 4,200 calls traded against fewer than 500 puts. Overall option volume was 20 times greater than average.

(A version of this post appeared on InsideOptions Pro yesterday.)

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