Every day for the past few weeks, we've been highlighting one of Schaeffer's top seven picks for 2022. Yesterday we covered grocery giant Kroger (KR), and to kick off this week we look at an HVAC name that leads its sector peers. To access the entirety of the 2022 report, click here.

HVAC name Carrier Global Corp (NYSE:CARR) is well-placed in a world desperately looking for cleaner air. Since its spin-off from Raytheon Technologies (RTX), CARR has been in a solid uptrend, to the tune of a 48% year-to-date gain. Recent consolidation under August all-time highs has been met with support at the shares' 200-day moving average.

CARR's Ultimate indicator currently sits at 47, while previous peaks in the indicator and share price roughly total out to around 70, which indicates there is room for the stock to run. Plus, nine of 16 analysts rate the equity a tepid "hold" and the 12-month consensus price target of $59 is only a modest premium to its current perch around $50, so there's intriguing upgrade and/or price-target hike potential to be had. Options-related support could come from an unwind in open interest positions.

CARR's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) ranks in the 97th percentile of its annual range, which indicates near-term put open interest outweighs call open interest by a wider-than-usual margin at the moment. Drilling down, two of the stock's top three open interest positions are puts.

Chris Prybal is a Senior Market Strategist at Schaeffer's Investment Research. A lifelong student of the markets, he made his first trades before he even began attending the University of Cincinnati, where he studied finance and treasury management. Prybal's areas of expertise include option premium buying and selling, and his equity and market research have been cited by Barron's, MarketWatch, Forbes, Investopedia, and the Cincinnati Business Courier.