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Schaeffer's Sentiment Snapshot: Lincoln National Corporation (LNC)

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^{Published in Business and Finance on Tuesday, February 10th 2009 at 12:30 GMT, Last Modified on 2009-02-10 12:31:23 by Market Wire}  

CINCINNATI--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Pessimistic options players have pounced on insurance issue Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE: LNC) recently. The security saw roughly 12,000 puts change hands yesterday, more than quintupling its average daily volume of fewer than 2,300 contracts. What's more, the bearish betting has continued today. In afternoon trading, LNC has already seen a whopping 6,000 puts cross the tape – more than 4 times the normal intraday volume.

The surge in put volume is likely attributable to a couple of different factors. First, the company stepped into the earnings confessional after the close yesterday, reporting a steep loss of 48 cents per share (excluding items) in the fourth quarter. Revenue fell 12% to $2.27 billion, as life insurance profit tumbled 51%. The figures fell short of the Street's expectations; analysts, on average, predicted a profit of 10 cents per share on $2.56 billion in sales.

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