Unusual Options Activity: Kraft Heinz Trader Bets Big on a Bull Call Spread — With Low Risk, Big Reward

Kraft Heinz (KHC) reported Q2 2026 results today before the markets opened. Investors were lukewarm about them; its shares were up 0.35% pre-market. 

Kraft Heinz beat Wall Street's estimates and raised their 2026 outlook. Investors right now only want good news. Anything negative seems to result in a stock getting pounded. One would think it will head higher once the markets open. We’ll see if this plays out for KHC as the day progresses. 

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) filed regulatory paperwork earlier this year so that it could sell its massive stake in Kraft Heinz if it wanted to. So far, CEO Greg Abel has said the holding company has no plans to divest. That double-edged sword won’t help the stock crawl out of its hole. 

In yesterday’s unusual options activity, Kraft Heinz had three call options with Vol/OI (volume-to-open-interest) ratios above 1.0; two of them were in the top three on the day. 

Both its share and options volume were higher than their 30-day averages at 23.38 million and 92,353, 1.7x and 2.9x higher, respectively. 

Even more telling, two trades accounted for 96% of the two call options’ daily volume. That’s not a coincidence.   

The trader/investor’s two trades scream low-risk/big rewards. Here’s why.  

The KHC Call Options in Question

Kraft Heinz’s Aug. 14 $26.50 call had the highest Vol/OI ratio on Wednesday at 141.42. The second-highest belonged to HP’s Oct. 16 $24 put at 135.56. It, in turn, was sandwiched by Kraft Heinz’s Aug. 14 $26 call at 80.60. 

Anytime you see two options with similar volumes on any given day, that is usually a sign of institutional money. Yesterday’s two KHC call options are such a beast.  

Five things stand out from the two trades shown above: 1) They both expire in 9 days, 2) They have the same trade size of 17,613, 3) They both took place at 10:04 a.m. ET, 4) They both had low open interest, and 5) They were both new positions. 

The obvious options strategy in play is a Bull Call Spread. Here’s why the trader/investor behind the two trades would have made this bet and how it looks pre-market with KHC shares slightly higher. 

The KHC Bull Call Spread

The bull call spread involves buying a long call and selling a short call at a higher strike price. In this case, it involves buying the Aug. 14 $26 call and selling the Aug. 14 $26.50 call. The two trades yesterday cost the trader/investor $12 per contract or $211,400 in total. That is the most it can lose. 

The end-of-day data shows us that the net debit/maximum loss is higher at $38 per contract. The maximum profit is $12 [$26.50 strike price - $26 strike price - $0.38 net debit]. That puts the maximum profit percentage at 31.58% [Max. Profit / Max. Loss] and the risk/reward ratio at 3.17 to 1, which means you’re spending $3.17 to make a dollar in profits. 

In the case of the two trades, the net debit/maximum loss is lower at $12 per contract. The maximum profit is $38 [$26.50 strike price - $26 strike price - $0.12 net debit]. That puts the maximum profit percentage at 316.67% [Max. Profit / Max. Loss] and the risk/reward ratio at 0.32 to 1, which means you’re spending 32 cents to make a dollar in profits.

Much better. 

Why Do a Bull Call Spread and Not a Long Call?

The answer lies in the expected move, which is 3.67%, up or down, over the next 9 days. 

Based on yesterday’s trade for the long $26 call, the breakeven would be $26.32, 3.4% higher than the $25.45 share price at the time. Based on the $26 call at the end of yesterday, the breakeven is $26.53, 3.1% higher than its closing share price of $25.73. The likelihood of such a move over seven trading days isn’t great, and every day that passes reduces the likelihood.

By doing the bull call spread, you’re improving your chances of making money. In the case of the two trades from yesterday, the breakeven drops 20 cents from $26.32 to $26.12, while the breakeven for the end-of-day numbers drops 15 cents from $26.53 to $26.38. That’s moves of 2.63% and 2.53%. It might not seem like a lot, but in the world of options, it’s significant. 

Finally, the trader/investor who made yesterday’s trades reduced the directional bet’s cost by 62.5% from $563,600 to $211,400, making it a much more digestible loss for what amounts to a low-conviction bet on Kraft Heinz stock moving higher by Aug. 14.  

The Bottom Line on Kraft Heinz Stock

To the average DIY investor, the difference between a $32 bet (long call only) and a $12 bet (bull call spread) probably isn’t a lot. However, the difference between $563,600 and $211,400 for a trader or institutional investor is. Traders, especially, are in the business of making a little off a lot of reasonable-risk bets. 

The difference in risk between making the bull call spread bet at 10 a.m. ET yesterday and by the end of the day’s trading is huge. You could drive a truck through it. The maximum profit and maximum loss basically flipped during the course of 6.5 hours of trading.

This bull call spread screams low-risk, big rewards. It was a very smart bet by whoever made it.