Bullish Options Combo Player Foresees Rally in Goldman Sachs’ Future
by Option Review - August 23rd, 2010 4:05 pm
Today’s tickers: GS, BA, RHT, DTG, DELL, ISLN & WHR
GS – Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. – A three-legged bullish options combination play initiated on Goldman Sachs this afternoon indicates one strategist is positioning for a sharp rebound in the price of the underlying stock by October expiration. GS shares, unable to hold onto gains realized earlier in the session, are currently down 0.65% to arrive at $147.27 just after 3:30 pm ET. It looks like the options optimist sold puts in order to partially finance the purchase of a debit call spread. The investor shed approximately 2,000 puts at the October $135 strike for an average premium of $2.74 each, purchased roughly the same number of calls at the October $150 strike for an average premium of $5.46 apiece, and sold about 2,000 calls at the higher October $160 strike at a premium of $1.89 a-pop. The average net cost of the transaction is reduced to just $0.83 per contract. Thus, the options player responsible for the trade is positioned to make money as long as Goldman’s shares rally 2.4% over the current price of $147.27 to surpass the average breakeven price of $150.83 by October expiration day. The trader may accumulate profits of up to $9.17 per contract if GS shares surge 8.6% to trade above $160.00 at expiration in a couple of months. Goldman Sachs’ shares last traded above $160.00 back on April 29, 2010.
BA – Boeing Co. – The second-largest U.S. satellite maker attracted the attention of one bullish options player this afternoon perhaps on news the firm expects to receive a minimum of $2 billion of orders for military communications satellites from a Defense Department contract announced in the previous week. Boeing’s shares slipped 1.95% to $63.34 in late afternoon trading, but the price erosion did not deter one trader from initiating a bullish risk reversal on the stock. It looks like the investor sold 7,000 puts at the October $60 strike for an average premium of $1.83 each in order to buy the same number of calls at the higher October $70 strike for premium of $0.95 apiece. The risk reversal was tied to the purchase of some 371,000 shares of the underlying at a price of $63.94 each. The responsible party received a net credit of $0.88 per contract on the reversal play. The investor is long the stock, short put…
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DiggOptimist Enacts Bullish Risk Reversal on Dollar Tree Stores Ahead of Earnings
by Option Review - August 9th, 2010 5:46 pm
Today’s tickers: DLTR, SPWRB, VZ, AMKR, NXY, CMCSK, MYL, DELL & ZGEN
DLTR – Dollar Tree Stores, Inc. – An investor expecting shares in Dollar Tree to rally significantly by November expiration initiated a bullish risk reversal on the stock today with the price of the discount retailer’s shares up 2.55% at $43.10 as of 3:05 pm ET. It looks like the trader sold approximately 4,825 puts at the November $40 strike for an average premium of $1.30 each in order to partially finance the purchase of the same number of call options at the higher November $45 strike for an average premium of $1.60 apiece. The net cost of putting on the risk reversal trade amounts to $0.30 per contract. Thus, the investor is prepared to make money should Dollar Tree Stores’ shares jump 5.1% to trade above the average breakeven price of $45.30 by expiration day in November. The investor may also be making a bullish wager on DLTR ahead of the firm’s second-quarter earnings report scheduled for release before the opening bell on August 19, 2010.
SPWRB – SunPower Corp. – News that solar energy developer, Etrion Corp., agreed to purchase the two initial phases of Italy’s largest solar park from SunPower Corp. for roughly $63.5 million in cash plus debt today sent SunPower’s shares up as much as 5.4% today to an intraday high of $12.59. Shares are currently trading 4.25% higher on the day to arrive at $12.45 as of 3:15 pm ET. The move higher in the price of the underlying stock attracted bullish options players to the August contract. Investors hoping to see SunPower’s shares continue to appreciate ahead of August expiration purchased roughly 1,000 calls at the August $12.5 strike for an average premium of $0.50 each. Call buyers make money if SPWRB’s shares can rally another 4.4% to surpass the average breakeven price of $13.00 by expiration day. Other optimistic individuals sold 1,100 in-the-money puts at the August $12.5 strike to take in an average premium of $0.60 apiece. Put sellers retain the full premium enjoyed on the transaction as long as SunPower’s shares are trading above $12.50 through August expiration. Investors short the puts are ready and willing to have shares of the underlying stock put to them at an effective price of $11.90 in the event the put contracts land in-the-money at expiration day.
VZ – Verizon Communications,…
Which Way Wednesday – Topping or Popping?
by Phil - July 14th, 2010 8:14 am
Wheee, what a ride!
We only had one trade idea for Members all day Monday and that was the DIA $103 calls for .52 from the 9:46 Alert. It is extremely rare that we only have one trade in a day but there really wasn’t anything for us to do as we had been BUYBUYBUYing all last week so there was nothing to do but watch. The calls finished yesterday at $1.12 for a nice 115% gain in 24 hours but we took the money and ran at 10:04 on a spike up to $1.25 because it’s too close to expirations to mess around. They actually topped out at $1.55 near the close but - better safe than sorry. Anyway, we replaced them with IWM calls later in the day and those doubled up and we were out at the close – again, it just doesn’t pay to be greedy.
It’s fun to day trade options on expiration weeks because the premiums go way down and we get fantastic leverage. Our longer-term trades turned mixed for the first time in 2 weeks (we had been 100% bullish) and we went from one to a dozen trade ideas a day as we used DXD for an overall hedge and took bullish positions on AAPL (2), GOOG (2), INTC, T, TZA (which is really a bearish position) and bearish positions on DIA (2) and MA. Of course ALL of our bullish plays were hedged already so the mix was a real indication of how exhausted the rally was starting to look.
Too much, too fast was the watchword for Tuesday as we were already up 5% for the week so we expected a gap fill back to the open (didn’t come yet) before we get serious about taking out our levels (Dow 10,290, S&P 1,102, Nas 2,257, NYSE 6,930 and RUT 651). We expected good news from INTC (we did a bullish ratio spread aimed at $22) and now we’ll see if it’s good enough to get the Nas up to 2,257 but it was the NYSE that worried us yesterday as they were close but no cigar at our 6,930 target.
Gap filling would be nice and normal and would take us back to test Dow 10,200, S&P 1,075, Nas 2,200, NYSE 6,800 and Russell 620. If we can show a little support there and consolidate for the next run, we’ll be in pretty good shape to continue this run but FIRST we have to test them WITHOUT everyone freaking out and…
Bullish Strategist Positions for Rebound in Plains Exploration & Production Co. Shares
by Option Review - June 28th, 2010 5:49 pm
Bullish strategist positions for rebound in Plains Exploration & Production Co. shares
Today’s tickers: PXP, MRVL, SRE, RIMM, MU, AFL, BMY & DELL
PXP – Plains Exploration & Production Co. – The implementation of a three-legged bullish options combination play on Plains Exploration & Production Co. drew our attention to the November contract where one investor utilized call and put options to position for a rebound in the price of the underlying stock. Shares of the independent oil and gas company soured in late afternoon trading, slipping 3.2% lower to stand at $20.98 by 3:35 pm (ET). PXP’s current price of $20.98 represents a 40.4% decline in value since April 15, 2010, when the stock touched an intraday high of $35.41. But, the options activity observed in the November contract today indicates one trader is expecting the stock to rebound sharply ahead of expiration in five months time. The investor essentially sold short put options in order to partially finance the purchase of a debit call spread. The trader purchased 10,000 calls at the November $22.5 strike for a premium of $2.45 each, sold 10,000 calls at the higher November $28 strike for a premium of $0.70 each, and finally sold 10,000 puts at the November $17.5 strike for a premium of $1.30 a-pop. The net cost of the transaction amounts to $0.45 per contract. Thus, the investor responsible for the three-legged play is positioned to make money as long as PXP’s shares rally 9.4% to surpass the effective breakeven price of $22.95 by expiration day in November. Maximum potential profits of $5.05 per contract are available to the trader if Plains’ shares surge 33.5% to surpass $28.00 by November expiration.
MRVL – Marvell Technology Group Ltd. – Global semiconductor maker, Marvell Technology Group Ltd., popped up on our ‘most active by options volume’ market scanner in the second half of the trading session due to rampant bearish options activity in the July and August contracts. Marvell’s shares edged 1.50% lower this afternoon to stand at $17.11 just ahead of the closing bell. Pessimistic traders expecting shares to continue lower ahead of July expiration sold 3,100 calls at the July $17 strike for an average premium of $0.74 each. Call selling spread to the August $15 strike where 2,300 in-the-money calls were sold at an average premium of $2.52 per contract. Perhaps in-the-money call sellers are hoping to keep…
Emerging Markets ETF Optimist Buys Ratio Call Spread
by Phil - June 1st, 2010 4:19 pm
Today’s tickers: EEM, PFE, XLF, DELL, NWL, QCOR, SHOO, EWZ, SLB, DOW & TEX
EEM – iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF – Contrarian options activity on the EEM, an exchange-traded fund designed to produce investment results that correspond to the price and yield performance of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, points to optimism the fund’s shares may rebound sharply by July expiration. Shares of the emerging markets ETF are down 1.10% to stand at $37.68 just before 3:30 pm (ET). One bullish strategist positioning for a rally in the next couple of months purchased a ratio call spread on the fund. The investor picked up 3,000 calls at the July $38 strike for an average premium of $2.05 each, and sold 6,000 calls at the higher July $41 strike for a premium of $0.73 apiece. The net cost of the transaction amounts to $0.59 per contract. The trader responsible for the ratio spread makes money as long as shares of the EEM rally 2.41% to surpass the effective breakeven price of $38.59. Maximum available profits of $2.41 per contract pad the investor’s wallet if, by expiration, shares of the emerging markets fund rally 8.80% to $41.00. Shares of the EEM last traded at $41.00 back on May 4, 2010.
PFE – Pfizer, Inc. – Shares of the research-based global pharmaceutical company earlier rallied slightly to an intraday high of $15.42, but slipped lower in afternoon trading to stand 0.40% lower on the day at $15.17 as of 2:45 pm (ET). Bullish options activity took place on the stock despite the slight share price erosion suggesting one investor expects Pfizer’s shares to rebound sharply by September expiration. The optimistic individual purchased a debit call spread, picking up roughly 4,000 calls at the September $17 strike for an average premium of $0.30 each, and selling about the same number of calls at the higher September $19 strike for an average premium of $0.06 apiece. The investor paid a net $0.24 per contract to establish the spread. Pfizer’s shares must rally 13.65% over the current price of $15.17 in order for the investor to break even on the transaction at $17.24. Shares must surge 25.25% to exceed $19.00 before the trader accrues maximum available profits of $1.76 per contract.
XLF – Financial Select Sector SPDR – A put spread on the XLF, an exchange-traded fund designed to yield investment results that correspond…
Monday Medical Miracle – Health Care Finally Passes
by Phil - March 22nd, 2010 8:19 am
Paul Krugman summed it up nicely:
There is, as always, a tunnel at the end of the tunnel: We’ll spend years if not decades fixing this thing.
Love it or hate it, the US has just taken a big step towards nationalized health care so maybe now we can finally stop talking about it and move on with the investing! I think medical devices (IHI) should do well with 32M new patients – that’s a play we made quite a while ago though and, like pretty much everything else in this market – they look a little toppy.
As I noted in the Weekend Wrap-Up, we came to the decision to get back to cash on Friday, removing all uncovered bullish bets and adding our disaster plays, no longer hedges (as there’s not much to hedge) but as bets that the Global markets are due for a little correction at this point. I’m already feeling good about the decision as the futures look awful this morning (8am) as the Hang Seng dropped 2% (437 points) and couldn’t get back over 21,000 during the session and has now given up all of March’s gains. The Dow is still up about 400 points in March as well – hopefully our fall won’t be as violent as what the Hang Seng saw this morning. India held up well, only losing 1% after Friday’s surprise rate increase.
The Dollar was very strong after the Health Care vote and we’re sitting below $1.50 to the Pound and we’ve bounced off $1.35 to the Euro twice this morning – a break below there could get very interesting! The Yen is staying down at 90.5 to the Dollar, which is a relief for Japanese exporters but I’m not sure they’ll hold 90 this week. Copper broke below $3.40 on Friday – confirming our bearish turn and is at $3.32 this morning. Gold once again is testing $1,100 and silver failed $17 at $16.82 with $16.50 being a bearish signal for metals. Oil dropped all the way to $79.31 this morning and we’ll see if they can get back over $80 but we are going to be thrilled with our short plays (see wrap-up) in that sector.
“Risk aversion has come up after developments in India and Greece,” said Henrik Gullberg, a fixed-income strategist at Deutsche Bank AG in London. “Any exiting of the current accommodative policy stance…
Ford Rally Fuels Bullish Options Activity
by Phil - March 17th, 2010 4:19 pm
Today’s tickers: F, EEM, DELL, UPS, IYR, JACK, WFC, CLX, SKX & LNC
F – Ford Motor Co. – The automobile manufacturer’s shares are once again trading at a new 52-week high after rallying 4.00% today to $14.02. Upward movement in the price of the underlying stock inspired bullish options trading activity. One investor initiated a plain-vanilla debit call spread to position for continued share price appreciation through expiration in September. The trader bought 5,000 calls at the September $15 strike for a premium of $1.03 per contract, and sold the same number of calls at the higher September $17.5 strike for $0.40 each. The investor paid a net $0.63 per contract for the spread, but could gain as much as $1.87 per contract if Ford’s shares surge 25% over the current price to $17.50 by expiration day. Nearer-term put activity clashes with the bullish move described in the September contract. It looks like investors purchased at least 18,600 put options at the April $13 strike for an average premium of $0.27 apiece. Perhaps put buyers are long shares of the underlying stock and are merely picking up cheap downside protection. But, it could also be the case that traders are buying the puts outright because they expect Ford’s shares to decline ahead of next month’s expiration day. If the latter is true, put-buyers amass profits if shares trade beneath the effective breakeven point on the puts at $12.73 by expiration.
EEM – iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF – Shares of the EEM, an exchange-traded fund that mirrors the price and yield performance of the MSCI Emerging Markets index, rose 1.55% during the session to $42.24. Despite the move up in share price, one investor employed a total of 60,000 option contracts on the fund to establish a bearish risk reversal in the January 2011 contract. It appears the options player shed 30,000 calls at the January 2011 $48 strike for a premium of $1.60 apiece in order to partially finance the purchase of 30,000 puts at the January 2011 $38 strike for $2.88 each. The net cost of the reversal amounts to $1.28 per contract. The massive size of the position may mean the trader is currently long an equivalent number of underlying shares of the fund. If this is the case, the transaction provides downside protection on that position should the EEM’s share price erode ahead of…
Prior Weekly Wrap-Up – February Expiration Day Special!
by Phil - February 19th, 2010 7:17 am
I didn’t get to do a wrap-up last week so we have a lot of trades to go over and, with expiration looming and the Fed tightening, I thought it would be good to just get the list out on Friday so we can adjust our rolls to March where neccessary (in bold under appropriate positions).
In our Feb 7th Wrap-Up, I was gung-ho bullish saying "It’s Only a 55-Point Drop You Wimps!" and we had been BUYBUYBUYing at the bottom all week, especially Wed-Fri as the market spiked through our projected support at Dow 10,000 but not enough to change our minds as we bottom-fished on AAPL (2 trades), ABX, ACOR, AKAM, AMED, BRK/B (2), C, CCJ (3), CSCO, DELL, FXI, GE, GOOG, IBM, LLY, LOW, NLY, TBT (5 times!), TM (3), TNA, USO (yep, we wen long oil) and UYG. To say we were weigting bullish by that Monday was an understatement as we has finished the weekend in a bullish stance and were relying on our disaster hedges to protect us.
Those disaster hedges are an interesting set to look at, especially now that we’ve recovered 400 points:
- DXD July $27/33 bull call spread at $2.50, now $2 – down 20%
- We can roll the $27 calls to the $25 calls for $5 to widen the spread and drop our b/e from $29.50 to $28.50
- EDZ July $3/8 bull call spread at $2.10, now $1.60 - down 23%
- EDZ Apr $10 calls sold for .70, now .15 – up 78% (pair trade)
- SDS 2011 $36/40 bull call spread at $1.30, now $1 – down 18%
- We can roll the $36 calls to the $33 calls for $1.10
- TBT Jan $35/45 bull call spread at $6.30, now $7.40 - up 17%
- TBT March $50s sold for .65, now $1.22 – down 87% (pair trade)
This is what is great about disaster hedges. The potential upside on these spreads, if the market headed south was up about 100% on the 4 trades so a commitment of 5% of your virtual portfolio to each one (20%) would give you back 40% of your virtual portfolio in cash if the markets tanked. Already, after 2 weeks, we have the markets heading in the opposite direction and what is the cost? Not even 20% of the 20% you may have allocated, a 4% insurance premium while the 80% of the virtual portfolio that is bullish caught a…
Wintery Wednesday – Are We Now Corrected?
by Phil - February 10th, 2010 8:21 am
Was that it?
A 10% correction (David Fry chart on right) and we’re done? If so, this is still a fairly bullish market, and it should be, as our sell-off last year was, beyond a doubt, way overdone. Often people forget the fundamentals of investing and the biggest fundamental of them all is: "Where else are you going to put your money?" There many fine companies out there with P/E ratios that are below 15. That means if you give them a dollar, they will return 6.6% in earnings. IBM has a PE of 12, which is an 8.3% return on my money and, according to projections, that will improve to 11 next year, generating 9 cents for each dollar I give them.
Call me an optimist but I think IBM is a fairly safe place to keep my money. Perhaps as safe as 4% TBills, or 7% Greek bonds or 3% Yen Notes or, Heaven forbid, a bank! In fact, not many banks are paying 1.8% on your deposits but IBM does through dividends. IBM was my example trade in the Weeekend Wrap-Up so I won’t get into strategies here but that is what our whole Buy List is about – picking up great long-term values and hedging them to even more effective entries.
Not every stock is as rock solid as IBM but (going back to the Wrap-Up) who did we buy when the chips were down last week? C, CCJ, TBT, GOOG, XLF, AAPL, AMED, CSCO, TM, LOW, AKAM, LLY, NLY, GE, TNA, USO, ABX, DELL, FXI, UYG, BRK/B. Not exactly a radical collection of picks is it? Yesterday, with the market up 2.5% from our shopping spree – we bought NOTHING. Part of the "buy low – sell high" philosophy is waiting for the market to be either high or low. Two weeks ago, on Jan 29th, I charted 10,058 on the Dow as a critical support line and, from our Buy List Update this weekend, I put up the following chart for Members:
And where did we finish yesterday on the Dow? 10,058. See, this charting thing is easy – that’s why I don’t usually bother, it’s dullsville! Let’s now turn our attention to our other major levels of 10,165 and 10,300 which, keep in mind, is nothing more than our predicted "weak bounce" off the drop from 10,700. As I said in the above chart, we can expect…
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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...
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