Traders betting on Deere, these other stocks ahead of earnings next week

Najarian spotted other interesting options activity in Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which reports earnings on Tuesday after the bell. This month traders bought more than seven thousand January 12 calls that expire in 2018, and more than fourteen thousand January 17 calls that expire in 2019. As of Thursday’s close the stock was trading at $13.27.

Hewlett-Packard Enterprise has risen 58.6 percent since it was spun out of HP Inc. on November 1, 2015.

Traders are also predicting that Palo Alto Networks is poised to move higher.

This week traders have bought more than 4,000 January 160 calls, which is 15 percent above where the stock was trading at as of Thursday’s close, according to Pete Najarian, fellow Najarian Family Office co-founder and CNBC contributor.

The cybersecurity company reports earnings on Monday after the bell, and according to FactSet estimates, analysts are expecting earnings per share of 68 cents on $488.8 million in revenue. These calls, however, don’t expire until January 19, so the traders could be anticipating positive quarterly guidance or increasingly favorable market conditions into the New Year.

The Najarians uses changes in options volume trading to spot buying opportunities. That worked well this week on Cisco, GM, and Bed Bath and Beyond.

Last week, bulls piled into Cisco, adding more than 14,000 calls at the November 34.50 strike price. Pete Najarian got into the trade, and profited when shares popped after the company beat earnings estimates and gave an upbeat forecast. As of Thursday’s close, the stock is up 5.3 percent since last Friday.