All-American, flag-waving company Force Protection (FRPT: sentiment, chart, options) announced late yesterday that it received a $41.8-million contract extension from the Department of Defense. The contract is for the company's Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles. These vehicles are used by the Army and the Marines to protect troops against roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan. For those that haven't surmised yet, FRPT's business is designing, manufacturing, and distributing mine-protected vehicles. The company's largest customers are the U.S. Army and Marines.

With customers that big, and demand for the company's products running high thanks to the wars, FRPT is doing amazingly well, right? WRONG. FRPT is a $3 stock -- a $3 stock that is struggling with overhead resistance from its 10- month and 20-month moving averages. Should the stock manage to conquer this resistance, it continues to face resistance from the 3, 4, and ultimately 5 levels. The 5 level is the site of peak call open interest in the October and December option series, indicating that the dean of defense could find options-related resistance at this level.

Unfortunately, FRPT will have to armor-plate itself against all of the optimism prevalent on the Street. The firm's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) checks in at a low 0.12, in the 4th percentile. Should the option players have a change of heart and move to the bearish end, we could see FRPT pushed lower.