Monday – Merger Mania Continues
by Phil - August 30th, 2010 8:22 am
It’s another busy Monday for M&A activity.
SNY announced a $18.5Bn CASH offer for GENZ ($69/share), INTC buy’s INNNY’s wireless unit for $1.4Bn in CASH and DELL and HPQ are still in a bidding war over PAR (and HPQ thinks their own shares are so cheap they are buying back $10Bn worth of them). The biggest winner in this weekend’s acquisition game is – ME! I live in northern NJ and, with the merger of CAL and UAUA going through, Continental is forced to diffuse some of their concentration at Newark airport and that ends up giving LUV 18 slots, bringing some much-needed additional competition to Newark, which has been pretty much dominated by Continental for years. LUV is a great buy at $11.13 and a fun way to play is the Jan $10/11 bull call spread at .60, selling the Jan $10 puts for .55, which is net .05 on the $1 spread with a 1,900% upside and your worst-case scenario is you own LUV at net $10.05 – what’s not to LUV?
Speaking of diffused concentration, the Glenn Beck rally was a bit of a disappointment with just 87,000 people showing up (Fox had a permit for 300,000 and keeps using that number as if that’s how many came while Beck himself has been claiming between 300,000 and 650,000 were there and Michele Backmann (R-Minn) claims it was the biggest rally ever held in Washington, with no fewer than 1M people in attendance). This has now backfired on Beck, Palin and the Tea Party as a "show of strength" becomes a show of apathy (to the people who can count, anyway) - it probably would have been smarter to hold the rally next weekend but Fox wanted to time the rally for the start of Jon Stewart’s vacation, although it didn’t stop him from commenting in absentia (where I hear Jon has a lovely bungalow). For a more "fair and balanced" view of the rally, see the very nice coverage from Reason TV.
During an interview on "Fox News Sunday," which was filmed after Saturday’s rally, Beck claimed that Obama "is a guy who understands the world through liberation theology, which is oppressor-and-victim – People aren’t recognizing his version of Christianity," Beck added. Beck’s attacks represent a continuing attempt to characterize Obama as a radical, an approach that has prompted anxiety among some Republicans,…
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DiggBears Leave Footprints in DSW, Inc. Put Options Ahead of Earnings
by Option Review - August 26th, 2010 7:45 am
Today’s tickers: DSW, LNCR, VGZ, S, APOL, CAL & JCG
DSW – DSW, Inc. – Options traders are picking up put options on the footwear retailer ahead of the firm’s second-quarter earnings report, scheduled for release ahead of the opening bell on August 31, 2010. DSW’s shares fell 2.5% to $24.09 in late afternoon trading. Pessimistic players purchased approximately 3,400 put options at the October $22.5 strike for an average premium of $1.53 a-pop. Put buyers are poised to profit should DSW’s shares plummet 12.95% from the current price of $24.09 to breach the average breakeven point to the downside at $20.97 by expiration day in October. Options implied volatility on the stock is up 5.2% as of 3:30 pm ET.
LNCR – Lincare Holdings Inc. – The provider of oxygen and other respiratory therapy services popped up on our ‘hot by options volume’ market scanner today after bullish call buying was detected in the January 2011 contract. Lincare’s shares are up 0.50% to stand at $23.51 with just under 30 minutes remaining in the trading session. Investors positioning for substantial share price appreciation by expiration next year purchased roughly 1,100 calls at the January 2011 $27.5 strike for an average premium of $0.86 each. Call buyers at this strike make money if Lincare’s shares jump 20.6% to exceed the average breakeven price of $28.36 by expiration day. Bullishness spread to the higher January 2011 $30 strike where optimistic individuals scooped up more than 2,900 call options at an average premium of $0.45 apiece. Investors long the higher-strike contracts are prepared to accrue profits should LNCR’s shares surge 29.5% to trade above the effective breakeven price of $30.45 by expiration day next year. Lincare’s shares last traded above $30.45 back on July 1, 2010.
VGZ – Vista Gold Corp. – Bullish investors are mining for call options on the gold exploration and development company today, which suggests some traders expect Vista’s shares to head higher by the end of 2010. The Colorado-based company’s shares jumped 20.4% to touch an intraday high of $2.30. Investors in Vista Gold Corp. shares have had a fruitful month thus far. The stock is currently trading at a 76.9% premium over its July 28 low of $1.30 a share. Options strategists hoping to see the good times continue through to December expiration scooped up approximately 2,000 calls at the December $2.5 strike by shelling out…
Bulls Board Continental Airlines As Shares Rise
by Option Review - July 13th, 2010 4:09 pm
Today’s tickers: CAL, RSH, FLEX & ADM
CAL – Continental Airlines, Inc. – Bullish options strategists initiated a couple of put credit spreads on Continental Airlines today with shares of the U.S. air carrier flying 4.35% higher to $24.00 as of 12:30 pm (ET). Investors populating CAL options are forecasting clear skies for the firm through September expiration and expect the price of the underlying shares to remain at least above $20.00 for the next few months. One of the bullish spreads involved the sale of 5,000 puts at the August $20 strike for a premium of $0.56 apiece, marked against the purchase of the same number of puts at the lower August $18 strike for a premium of $0.32 each. The investor responsible for the transaction pockets a net credit of $0.24 per contract, and keeps the full amount received today as long as CAL’s shares exceed $20.00 through expiration day next month. The trader receives the $0.24 credit in exchange for bearing the risk that shares crash and burn ahead of expiration. Losses on the position start to accumulate if Continental Airlines’ shares plunge 17.66% from the current price of $24.00 to breach the effective breakeven point to the downside at $19.76. The investor is slammed with maximum potential losses of $1.76 per contract should shares plummet 25% to trade below $18.00 ahead of expiration in August. An identical 5,000-lot put credit spread was established in the September contract. This transaction yields a net credit of $0.35 per contract to the responsible party if shares remain above $20.00, and results in maximum potential losses of $1.65 per contract if CAL’s shares slip beneath $18.00 by expiration day in September.
RSH – RadioShack Corp. – Call options on the retailer of consumer electronics goods and services are flying off the shelves this morning with RadioShack’s shares trading 3.95% higher on the day to stand at $22.37 as of 11:15 am (ET). Earlier in the session RSH shares rallied more than 7.6% to secure an intraday high of $23.16. Bullish options investors expecting continued appreciation in the price of the underlying stock this week picked up approximately 2,200 calls at the July $22.5 strike for an average premium of $0.60 apiece. Call buyers at this strike stand ready to amass profits should the retailer’s shares exceed the average breakeven price of $23.10 by expiration on Friday. Traders anticipating a more…
Bulls Target Newmont Mining Corp. Call Options as Shares Near All-Time Highs
by Option Review - June 18th, 2010 4:16 pm
Today’s tickers: NEM, RIG, CAL & EWZ
NEM – Newmont Mining Corp. – Gold producer, Newmont Mining Corp., enticed bullish options strategists to the arena in the first half of the trading session with shares of the underlying stock rallying nearly 3.00% to a new 52-week high of $61.46 as of 12:15 pm (ET). Investors expecting the price of Newmont’s shares to continue to appreciate ahead of July expiration, and potentially break straight through its all-time high of approximately $62.72 secured back in early 2006, purchased approximately 1,300 call options at the July $65 strike for an average premium of $0.74 apiece. Call buyers at this strike price are poised to profit if shares of the gold company surge 6.95% to surpass the average breakeven price of $65.74 ahead of expiration day next month. Longer-term bullish behavior observed today took place at the sky-high September $75 strike where it looks like 2,000 calls were picked up at an average premium of $0.54 per contract. Investors long the calls make money if the gold producer’s shares jump 22.9% to trade above the average breakeven price of $75.54 by September expiration.
RIG – Transocean Ltd. – Shares of the international provider of offshore drilling services for oil and gas wells are currently up sharply by 7.85% to stand at $53.31 just before 12:30 pm (ET). RIG’s shares have roared back to life recently, rallying 28.55% in the past couple of weeks, from a 2-year low of $41.88 on June 9th, up to an intraday high of $53.84 today. Bullish options players populating the stock today are positioning for RIG’s shares to rebound higher by July expiration. Optimistic investors picked up approximately 1,000 calls at the July $55 strike for an average premium of $2.12 apiece. Traders long the July $55 strike calls profit if RIG’s shares rally another 7.15% from the current price of $53.31 to trade above the average breakeven point to the upside at $57.12 by expiration day next month. Buying behavior spread to the higher July $60 strike where at least 1,200 call options were purchased at an average premium of $0.73 per contract. Investors holding these contracts make money if shares of the underlying stock surge 13.9% to surpass the average breakeven price of $60.73 by July expiration. The overall reading of options implied volatility on Transocean plunged 17.1% to 61.61% by 12:35 pm (ET). The current 61.61%…
Qualcomm Strangle Suggests Range-Bound Shares Until October Expiration
by Option Review - February 24th, 2010 4:40 pm
Today’s tickers: QCOM, ETFC, CAL, SLB, AUY, EEM, ADSK, NFLX & JNPR
QCOM – Qualcomm, Inc. – Options activity on the digital wireless communications products and services firm indicates shares of the underlying stock could remain range-bound through October expiration. Qualcomm’s shares are down more than 2% to $37.72 with approximately one hour remaining in the trading session. Analysts at Credit Suisse maintain a ‘neutral’ rating on the stock, but slashed its target share price for QCOM to $40.00 from $45.00 and lowered its earnings guidance for 2010 and 2011. According to one options investor, Qualcomm’s shares are likely to trade within a certain range for the next eight months. The trader acted on the range-bound prediction by selling a strangle. The investor sold 10,000 puts at the October $35 strike for a premium of $2.30 each and shed 10,000 calls at the higher October $44 strike for a premium of $1.30 apiece. Gross premium pocketed by the strangler amounts to $3.60 per contract. The trader keeps the full amount of premium only if Qualcomm’s shares trade above $35.00 and below $44.00 through expiration. The premium received acts as a limited buffer against losses should shares swing above or below the strike prices described above. However, losses accumulate for the investor if shares rally above the upper breakeven price of $47.60, or if the stock falls below the lower breakeven point at $31.40 ahead of expiration day in October. Qualcomm’s share price exceeded the upper breakeven point as recently as January 21, 2010, when the stock traded as high as $49.00. Finally, shares have not traded lower than $31.40 – the lower breakeven price on the strangle – since December 5, 2008, when the stock dipped down to $29.33.
ETFC – E*Trade Financial Corp. – Shares of the financial services firm are down 0.65% to $1.54 in late afternoon trading, but options activity on the stock was initiated by bullish investors positioning for a rebound in share price. One optimistic individual established a ratio call spread in the October contract. The trader bought 5,000 call options at the October $2.0 strike for a premium of $0.18 each and sold 10,000 calls at the higher October $3.0 strike for about $0.04 apiece. The investor paid a net premium of $0.10 per contract for the transaction, but stands ready to accrue maximum potential profits of $0.90 per contract if E*Trade’s share price…
Goldman-Bulls Foresee Greener Pastures by July
by Option Review - January 26th, 2010 5:59 pm
Today’s tickers: GS, AMLN, LYV, KFT, PM, IYR, MAS, VMW, BKS & CAL
GS – Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. – Option traders assumed medium- and long-term bullish stances on the global investment banking and management firm today to position for a rebound in shares in the next six to twelve months. Shares edged 1.65% lower during the session to stand at $152.43 as of 2:45 pm (EDT). One optimistic individual sold 2,500 put options for a premium of $8.90 apiece at the July $140 strike in order to finance the purchase of 2,500 calls at the higher July $175 strike for about $6.10 each. The trader receives a net credit of $2.80 per contract on the risk reversal play, and keeps the full amount as long as Goldman’s shares trade above $140.00 through expiration in July. Additional profits amass if the stock price jumps 15% over the current price to surpass the $175.00-level by expiration. Longer-term optimism appeared in the January 2011 contract where another Goldman-bull purchased a call spread. The investor bought approximately 2,300 call options at the January 2011 $160 strike for an average premium of $17.38 apiece, and sold the same number of calls at the higher January 2011 $195 strike for about $6.50 each. The net cost of the spread amounts to $10.88 per contract. Maximum potential profits of $24.12 per contract accumulate if Goldman’s shares surge 28% from the current price to $195.00 by expiration next January.
AMLN – Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. – Shares of biopharmaceutical company, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, are up more than 11% to a new 52-week high of $19.39 in afternoon trading. The stock opened the session even higher at $19.97 on “optimism that the company’s new version of diabetes treatment Byetta will be approved following U.S. regulators’ clearance of a similar drug”, according to an earlier report by Elizabth Lopatto at Bloomberg. Option traders initiated bullish plays on the stock to position for upward movement in AMLN shares, which is likely to occur if the Food & Drug Administration approves the once-weekly version of Byetta, known as Byetta LAR. One investor established a bullish risk reversal by selling 10,000 puts at the February $17.5 strike for a premium of $0.50 each, spread against the purchase of 10,000 calls at the higher February $20 strike for $0.80 apiece. The net cost of the reversal amounts to $0.30 per contract and positions the trader…
Contrarian Players Keep an Eye on the Upside at Intel
by Option Review - January 20th, 2010 4:05 pm
Today’s tickers: INTC, GA, EWZ, VIX, PALM, HGSI, CREE, CYD, BAC, CAL, XLB & CREE
INTC – Intel Corp. – Investors populating the March contract on chipmaker, Intel Corp., expect shares to rebound by expiration. Shares are trading slightly lower by 0.10% to $21.03 with about one hour remaining before the closing bell. Bullish traders utilized a couple of different option strategies. Some investors sold 2,400 puts at the March $20 strike to receive an average premium of $0.45 per contract. Put-sellers keep the $0.45 premium if Intel’s shares trading above $20.00 through expiration. The short sale of puts suggests investors are happy to have shares of the underlying put to them at an effective price of $19.55, should the contracts land in-the-money. Additional bullish action took place at the higher March $22 strike where 20,400 calls were purchased for an average premium of $0.36 apiece. Investors long the calls begin to accumulate profits to the upside if shares of INTC rally 6.3% over the current price to surpass the breakeven point at $22.36 by expiration day in March.
GA – Giant Interactive Group, Inc. – Online game development company, Giant Interactive, attracted significant option volume in late afternoon trading today. Options traded on the stock amassed to 52,350 contracts by 3:00 pm (EDT), which is more than twice that of existing open interest on GA of 25,314 lots. Shares are trading flat at $7.48 with one hour remaining in the session. While some investors are putting on risk reversals, it looks like the bulk of the trading volume represents short straddle plays. Short-straddlers sold the bulk of some 30,000 calls exchanged at the July $7.5 strike for an average premium of $0.51 apiece, and shed the majority of the 26,000 puts traded at the same strike for roughly $0.62 each. Investors selling the straddles receive an average gross premium of $1.13 per contract, and keep the full premium if shares settle at $7.50 by expiration. Shares are a scant two pennies off the central strike price of $7.50. Traders employing the short straddle strategy also benefit from declines in option implied volatility because of the downward pull such shifts in volatility have on put and call premium. Investors may profit ahead of expiration if they buy back the short straddles for less than they received on today’s sale. Option implied volatility is lower by about 3.5% to 24.44%.
EWZ…
Frothy Friday – Churn Baby Churn!
by Phil - October 23rd, 2009 8:26 am
What a wild week we are having!
We dumped our shorts as planned yesterday morning, getting a very nice dip at the open and my 9:36 Alert to Members was even titled "Take Those Short Profits!" and our upside targets were set (as they were in the morning post) at: Dow 10,087, S&P 1,096, Nasdaq 2,173, NYSE 7,204 and Russell 623. Where did we finish? Dow 1,081, S&P 1,092, Nasdaq 2,165, NYSE 7,182 and Russell 613 – so a bit short of all of our targets but not bad considering we were opening 167 points below that on the Dow so perhaps I can be forgiven for a 6-point miss…
If knowing about massive market moves in advance would be helpful to you – please consider subscribing to our service. If you are already a member and know someone who might like to try our newsletter, you can send them a free trial subscription using this link and you can earn yourselves discounts on membership renewals for each friend who opts into the free trial. We have over 19,000 people on our Newsletter list now and I want to see if we can break 30,000 by the end of the year now that our new mail server is up and running (we’ve been on hold for a month as we filled up our old server!). Your help in this matter would be greatly appreciated. PSW Report Members can extend their subscriptions at no cost simply by referring others to a free trial report – my little experiment in viral marketing…
Even our free PSW Report readers would have done great just following the trades we had in last week’s Wrap-Up (Report subscribers get to read our articles without the 48-hour delay). We had GS Nov $210s shorted at .87, now .35 (up 60%), CERN short $85 calls at $4.15, now $3.10 (up 25%), ISRG Apr puts and calls sold for $39.20, now $36 (up 8%), PARD at $6.87, now $7.35 (up 7%), NTRI at $18.60, now $19.15 (up 3%)…
We had other trades that are still in progress. ICE notably burned us so far, but we rolled them up and shorted them some more yesterday (now $106.56). We’ve had a wild mix of short and long trades this week as we TRY to get more bullish on the markets but yesterday’s run-up had us reloading Thursday’s successful short plays as that set made…
Which Way Wednesday – The Beige Book Boogie
by Phil - October 21st, 2009 8:14 am
The last Beige Book report was on September 9th.
At the time the Dow was looking toppy at 9,650 and we had poor consumer confidence numbers (just like yesterday) and poor consumer credit number (no change) and the book had very little "good" news to report (see my analysis) - Yet the market broke over 9,600 again that day and then took off all the way to 9,900 a week later. At the time, we were looking for any excuse to go higher on the hopes that this earnings period will look like last one but have we now come too far, too fast?
It seems we are finally hitting the point of diminishing returns for earnings. Expectations have finally gotten so high that even big beats aren’t enough to keep the momentum going.
Last earnings Q, we were down from 8,900 in June to 8,100 on July 9th as companies began reporting and we had a nice, 1,000-point relief rally over the first two weeks of earnings. This time, we went up an additional 500 points in the past two weeks, over our 9,600 line and that has been in anticipation of a repeat of last earnings but the circumstances are very different this time and it takes a lot to justify a 20% run off the July lows.
Keep in mind that, looking at the sector charts, Energy, Materials and Tech are leading us. Since semiconductors are simply another form of commodity – this is almost entirely a commodity rally in the midst of a recession with Consumer Staples, Financials, Health Care, Industrials, Telcom, Utilities and Transports all underperforming the rest of the S&P. As I keep saying – if no one is shipping anything, how the hell can we be having a proper recovery?
The Beige book is an anecdotal view of the economy gathered roughly through the middle of October and we’ve seen no improvement in Jobs since the Sept 9th report, Cash for Clunkers ground to a halt and, just this morning, we got a horrific 13.7% decrease in the number of mortgage applications from the previous week. That number includes "seasonal adjustments," without adjustments, morgage apps plunged 22.4% despite record low rates as government assistance begins to peter out. The Refinance Index, also adjusted for the holiday, decreased 16.8 percent from the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 7.6 percent from one week earlier. …
Which Way Wednesday – Fed Edition
by Phil - September 23rd, 2009 8:22 am
We’re just waiting on the Fed today, as are the rest of the markets.
Yesterday’s volume was the lowest since Sept 11th but not as low as Monday, which was our lowest volume since the end of June, just before we had a 5% correction. June 26th and 29th were our last two consecutive ultra-low volume days but June 30th was much bigger (a down 100 day), July 1st was up again on low volume and then July 2nd was another big down day and we bottomed out on July 10th. That was the time that the media was telling us we were forming a "classic" head and shoulders pattern and were doomed to revisit the March lows. It was also the last time we enthusiastically bought stocks.
At the time of that weekly review (7/11), we had CAL at $10 (now $16.82), CBS at $5.97 (now $12.58), COST at $43.45 (now $58.58), CVX – who we just shorted – at $58.20 (now $72.60), DIS at $22.41 (now $28.38), EXM at $6.05 (now $7.32), RT at $7.12 (now $8.85), SNDK at $14.47 (now $22.91), SPY at $87.96 (now $107.27), SPWRA at $22.35 (now $32.63), SUN at $22.09 (now $27.75), V at $59.86 (now $74.41), VLO at $15.57 (now $20.50), WFR at $16.61 (now 19.09), X at $30.77 (now $50.45), XLF at $11.10 (now $15.35), XOM at $65.12 (now $69.85) and ZION at $11 (now $19). Of course our members had much better entries as we had been targeting our entries on all of those but anyone reading our weekend review on July 11th could have played along at home from those prices (we even spiked down at Monday’s open) and when I say we are now bearish – it is that we are bearishly protecting these ridiculous profits – the kind of profits you usually don’t get after 3 years, not 3 months!
Overall, the broader market is up 20% over that time so it can be argued that a monkey with a dart board could have made good picks at that time but, if you read that week’s notes – you’ll notice that this monkey was screaming for people to buy and was going against what pretty much EVERY other analyst was saying and I was confident enough to lay out my picks, my strategy and my fundamental arguments for everyone to see. It would have really sucked…
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Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW. She manages the Favorites backup site
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