Energy stocks are surging and one big oil company in particular could see a big breakout in the short term.
Wednesday following the election, the options pits were in a flurry with traders focused on oil giant ExxonMobil. One trader bought 10,000 of the December 90-strike calls for $0.49 when Exxon was trading at $85.80.
A total of 39,000 of the same December 90-strike calls were bought in the session, and Exxon saw three times its average daily call volume on Wednesday. These calls break even at $90.49, which means that Exxon still needs to rise another 3 percent from Thursday trading levels by December expiration.
Dan Nathan of RiskReversal.com, however, thinks such a surge is within reach given how energy stocks have behaved. Energy stocks have rallied more than 2.5 percent since the election, but Nathan sees the energy stock-tracking ETF (XLE) making "a series of higher lows" that have taken XLE back above the "breakout level" of around $70.
This bodes well for Exxon, a key component of XLE. Exxon has rallied almost 3 percent since Tuesday's election, and Nathan has high hopes that Exxon could rally back to levels it hasn't seen since July.
"This is a stock that trades with a 3.5 percent dividend yield or so," Nathan said Wednesday on CNBC's "Fast Money." "This is one where you could probably see above $90 with stable crude over the next month."
Exxon has rallied alongside crude, with the stock up 12.5 percent year to date.
