Signal: Outperforming Travel Stock Hasn't Hit Its Top

Emma Duncan

Mon, May 18, 2026 at 1:28 PM EDT 1 min read

Shares of Viking Holdings Ltd (NYSE:VIK) are 3.4% higher at $86.58, after landing an upgrade to "overweight" from "equal weight" at Wells Fargo. The firm also hiked its price target to $109 from $79, citing robust business fundamentals for the travel concern. Citigroup also hiked its price target to $101 from $90.

VIK has been on a tear up the charts, bucking recent travel sector concerns and tapping a record high of $92 last week. The equity saw a slew of bull notes in response, with today looking like a continuation of the recent praise. Viking stock sports an impressive 77% year-over-year lead, but more gains could be in store, per a historic bull signal that is now flashing.

VIK sports a 10-day put/call volume ratio of 4.33 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) that stands higher than 92% of readings from the past year.

This marks the fourth time in the last three years that the equity's 10-day buy-to-open put/call ratio crossed over 1.0 and hit the 90th percentile. Per Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White, VIK was higher one month later 75% of the time after these signals with an average 9.9% return. From its current perch, a shift of this magnitude would put Viking stock just shy of $95 -- a new record high.

Options look like an attractive route when weighing on the stock's next moves, per its Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 44% that sits in the lowest possible percentile of all other readings from the past year. In other words, near-term option traders are pricing in relatively low volatility expectations.