Competing offers from rival discount chains has left the fate of Family Dollar Stores Inc up in the air, but options investors are currently treating its accepted offer from Dollar Tree Inc deal as a done deal. Family Dollar rejected a $9.1 billion offer from the leading discount retailer, Dollar General Corp, and analysts believe the company could come back and try to sweeten its bid again. But Family Dollar has said it plans to stick with an $8.5 billion offer from Dollar Tree.Investors, judging by the low levels of volatility in the options contracts, were not betting on a bidding war that would cause major gyrations in the shares.The 30-day and 60-day implied volatility levels for Family Dollar options are near all-time lows and at the level that any other "normal" takeover candidate would trade at, said Ophir Gottlieb, chief executive officer at Los Angeles-based Capital Market Laboratories LLC.Implied volatility projects what the marketplace is implying the volatility of the stock will be in the future, based on price changes in an option.
Dollar General Corporation is a discount retailer in the United States by number of stores, with 9,961 stores located in 39 states as of March 2, 2012, primarily in the southern, southwestern, midwestern and eastern United States. Shares of DG traded higher by 0.63% or $0.395/share to $63.40. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $53.00 and as high as $65.99. On average, 6732530 shares of DG exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 3962016.
Dollar Tree, Inc. (Dollar Tree) is an operator of discount variety stores offering merchandise at the fixed price. Shares of DLTR fell by 0.02% or $-0.01/share to $55.60. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $49.59 and as high as $60.19. On average, 3019580 shares of DLTR exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 1665616.
Family Dollar Stores, Inc. (Family Dollar) operates a chain of more than 7,900 general merchandise retail discount stores in 46 states, providing consumers with a selection of merchandise in neighborhood stores. Shares of FDO fell by 0.39% or $-0.31/share to $78.80. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $55.64 and as high as $80.97. On average, 3206080 shares of FDO exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 1445542.
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