One Trader Made A Huge Bear Call On Fred's Ahead Of Postponed Q3 Earnings

Benzinga Pro is constantly active in monitoring options activity and flags unusual and notable trades. On Wednesday, a particular trade involving Fred's, Inc. FRED was flagged.

Fred's stock briefly turned negative late Wednesday afternoon after a big put sweep. A trader bought 6,000 contracts of the December 16 $10.00 puts at the asking price of $0.398. What's unusual about this trade is that it represents activity that is 100 times the open interest.

A trader made a notable bet that the stock will decline around 10 percent by the end of this week.

What's also notable about this trade is the fact that Fred's announced at the end of November it needs to postpone its third quarter earnings release from December 2 to December 8 after market close. The company also announced it has postponed its Analyst Day presentation indefinitely.

Fred's press release offered no explanation or further details at the time.

Shares of Fred's have lost nearly 35 percent since the start of 2016 as the retailer has struggled. The company most recently reported its October sales fell 4.2 percent to $157.3 million and its October comps fell 3.4 percent.