NEW YORK (Bloomberg) - Options traders increased their bets that shares of Research In Motion Ltd. will trade one-third higher by December after an analyst said the maker of BlackBerry e-mail devices is gaining market share.

Research Capital Corp. cited "continued strong demand" for the products, raising its 2007 profit estimate by 11 cents to $2.11 a share and saying the stock may reach $101 in the next 12 months, up 29 percent from a prior forecast.

Research In Motion shares rose 0.3 percent to $85.74 after earlier climbing to $88.23, their highest ever. December $116.625 calls were the second-most actively traded, with the number of existing contracts increasing by 22 percent to 1,684. The contracts' price rose 8.1 percent to $2.

"If people take large positions in distant-month options that are way out of the money, they're buying lottery tickets because these are low-priced options," said Randy Frederick, director of derivatives at Charles Schwab & Co. "If it does pay off, it's going to pay off big."

Some strike prices for options on shares of the Waterloo, Ontario-based company changed to reflect a three-for-one stock split on August 21. The price of the most active contracts, September $90 calls, was unchanged at 90 cents after earlier rising to $1.95.

Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc. call-option trading surged to a record and the stock jumped the most since June after an analyst said the maker of stuffed animals cancelled a conference appearance, fueling speculation it may be in takeover talks.

"Something may be brewing," Buckingham Research Group analyst John Zolidis wrote in a note. Build-A-Bear said in June that it hired Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. to explore a sale of the company. The stock advanced 4.8 percent to $17.86.

Call-option volume rose to 6,878 contracts, a 57-fold increase from the 20-day average. Each gives the right to buy 100 shares for a certain amount by a given date. Calls traded outnumbered puts by 24-to-one.

A company spokesman was not immediately available to comment.

Implied volatility, the key factor in determining the value of option contracts, rose to 93.75 percent, the highest since October 2005, from 58.57 percent. An increase indicates traders anticipate bigger swings in the stock price.

Goldman, Sachs & Co. recommended selling puts on Kroger Co., because shares of the biggest U.S. supermarket chain, which reports second-quarter results on September 18, may be "flat-to-up in the near-term." Kroger shares advanced 0.9 percent to $26.68.

Analysts expect the Cincinnati-based company to report profit before some items of 34 cents a share, the average of 11 estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

October $25 put contracts should be created and then sold because volatility on the stock is unlikely to rise in the "near term," strategists Maria Grant and John Marshall wrote in a note. They cited an estimate by Goldman equity analyst John Heinbockel, who expects the stock to reach $30 by June.

The put contracts were unchanged at 50 cents for a third day.

Most US options prices fell after Countrywide Financial Corp. secured new credit lines and investors speculated that financing for businesses and takeovers is becoming more plentiful.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, or VIX, fell 0.8 percent to 24.76. The index, which tends to decrease when stocks rise, has fallen 20 percent since reaching a four- year high on August 16.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 0.8 percent.