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Posts Tagged ‘EAT’

Options Combo-Play Sees Multi-Year Highs Ahead For Electronic Arts

www.interactivebrokers.com

      Today’s tickers: ERTS, SNE, EAT & ETR

ERTS - Electronic Arts, Inc. – Shares in the video game developer may rally to their highest in more than two years by January 2013 expiration according to three-legged bullish plays initiated in Electronic Arts options this morning. Earlier this week the company announced an agreement to acquire PopCap Games, which makes games for mobile phones, tablets, PCs and social networking sites, in a cash and stock deal valued at up to $1.3 billion. Shares in Electronic Arts are currently up 0.50% to arrive at $23.63 as of 11:30 am ET. Long-term bullish investors eyeing fresh multi-year highs by Jan. 2013 expiration appear to have sold put options on the stock in order to partially offset the cost of debit call spreads. Traders sold around 5,000 puts at the Jan. 2013 $17.5 strike at an average premium of $1.42 each, purchased around the same number of calls up at the Jan. 2013 $25 strike for an average premium of $3.67 per contract, and sold some 5,000 calls at the Jan. 2013 $30 strike at an average premium of $1.97 a-pop. Average net premium paid to initiate the three-way trade amounts to just $0.28 per contract. Investors employing the strategy profit if shares in Electronic Arts rally 7.0% to exceed the average breakeven price of $25.28 by expiration day in more than one year. Maximum potential profits of $4.72 per contract are available on the spread in the event that shares in the interactive entertainment provider jump 27.0% to trade above $30.00 at expiration in January 2013. The company’s first-quarter earnings report is expected to hit the stands after the final bell on August 2.

SNE - Sony Corp. – Call activity on the designer and manufacturer of electronic equipment and devices suggests some strategists are positioning for shares in the Tokyo, Japan-based company to rally substantially by October expiration. Sony’s shares suffered following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in its home country. A number of…
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Testy Tuesday – Have the Markets Become Comfortably Numb?

"There is no pain you are receding
A distant ship’s smoke on the horizon.
You are only coming through in waves.
Your lips move but I can’t hear what you’re saying.
When I was a child
I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye.
I turned to look but it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now
The child is grown,
The dream is gone.
but I have become comfortably numb
." – Pink Floyd
 

I have a theory that the markets (and the American people in general) aren’t irrational, they are simply shell-shocked after suffering a very traumatic group financial experience… 

To be shell-shocked is to be "mentally confused, upset, or exhausted as a result of excessive stress" and the most common symptoms are: Fatigue, slower reaction times, indecision, disconnection from one’s surroundings, and inability to prioritize – That certainly sounds like our Congress doesn’t it?  Combat stress disorder was first diagnosed in WWI, when 10% of the troops were killed and 56% wounded – far worse than had been experienced in previous wars.  Our current financial crisis has similarly affected more people than any previous crisis with almost everyone knowing someone who is bankrupt or lost their jobs or homes and almost no one escaped the carnage of the downturn without some financial damage. 

Combat fatigue may go a long way to explaining the severe drop-off in volume that has plagued the markets since March, with participation now down to 25% of where we were last January and that leaves us open to the blatant sort of market manipulation that Karl Denninger caught last week as well as the usual nonsense we get daily from HFT programs that drive the market with such precision that we are able to tell how the day is going to go by simply checking our hourly volume targets.  Here’s a clip from CNBC where a floor trader discusses market manipulation as a fact of trading (2 mins in).  

As Nicholas Santiago points out on In The Money Stocks,   "January is usually a very high volume month, yet it has started off the New Year even lighter than the last two months of 2009.  Light volume markets are very difficult to short. Hence the old saying, ‘never short a dull market’."  Not only is the market volume…
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Bears Bombard Wells Fargo with Pessimistic Option Plays

www.interactivebrokers.com

Today’s tickers: WFC, GS, EWZ, EK, CHRW, BIDU, CBY, ACOR, INTC, EK & EAT

WFC – Wells Fargo & Co. – Bearish traders lumbered around Wells Fargo today purging calls and feasting on out-of-the-money put options. Pessimistic positions were initiated during the trading session despite the 1.5% move up in shares of the underlying to $29.02. Investors piled into put options at the February $23 strike where roughly 23,000 contracts were purchased for an average premium of $0.13 apiece. Perhaps put buyers are merely securing cheap downside protection in case WFC’s shares fall off the proverbial cliff by expiration next month. Traders may be expecting a pull back in shares of the financial firm. If the puts were purchased as an outright bearish bet on the stock, investors long the contracts could turn profits by selling the puts before expiration next month if premium levels on the lots appreciate above $0.13. Medium-term pessimism was apparent in the April contract where traders shed 4,700 calls at the April $32 strike for an average premium of $0.66 each. Additional bearishness took place at the April $28 strike as investors picked up roughly 5,600 puts for $1.55 apiece. Pessimistic trading patterns suggest a bumpy start to the new year for Wells Fargo.

GS – Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. – Bullish activity in the February contract on investment banking firm, Goldman Sachs, suggests shares are poised to pop up in the next few weeks. Shares appreciated slightly during today’s session, rising 0.10% to $169.22 ahead of the closing bell. One optimistic options strategist purchased a debit spread to position for bullish movement in the price of the underlying. The trader bought 10,000 calls at the February $180 strike for a premium of $2.25 apiece, spread against the sale of 10,000 calls at the higher February $185 strike for $1.30 each. The investor shelled out a net $0.95 per contract on the trade. Goldman’s shares must gain approximately 7% from the current price in order for the call-spreader to breakeven at $180.95. Maximum potential profits of $4.05 per contract amass for the trader if GS shares jump 9.3% to $185 by expiration day in February.

EWZ – iShares MSCI Brazil Index ETF – Shares of the EWZ, which corresponds to the performance of publicly traded securities in the Brazilian market, edged 1.75% lower during the trading day to stand at $74.53. Bearish option traders made…
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Chart School

Best Stock Market Indicator Ever: Weekend Update

Courtesy of Doug Short.

The $OEXA200R (the percentage of S&P 100 stocks above their 200 DMA) is a technical indicator available on StockCharts.com that can be used to forecast conservative entry and exit points for the stock market.

The OEXA is used to find the "sweet spot" time period in the market when you have the best chance of making money. See Is This the Best Stock Market Indicator Ever? for a discussion of this technical tool.

The chart below is current through the February 3rd close.


After a major S&P correction, the conditions for safe re-entry into the market are when:

   a) $OEXA200R rises above 65%. And two of the following three...

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Phil's Favorites

Violent Protests in Greece; 6 Cabinet Members Resign

Violent Protests in Greece; 6 Cabinet Members Resign; LAOS leader "I Would Rather Starve Than be Under German Jackboot"; Controversy Over Missing Paragraphs

Courtesy of Mish

Imagine you are asked to sign a document but three pages were missing. Further imagine the documents you were asked to sign were written in English but you only speak Greek. Would you sign?

That is exactly the predicament Greek officials were placed in by the Troika. Here is the story sent to me by Demetri Kofinas at Capital Account.

Hello Mish

George Karatzaferis leader of LOAS political party gave a speech today addressing why he refused to sign this latest agreement. In his speech, he said that he a...

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Sabrient

Sabrient Risers - 2/11/2012

Top 5 RisersStockRatingAnalysisICABUYThe projected value for Empresas ICA is still rising quickly even though past earnings have already improved significantly.XBUYThe projected value for US Steel is still rising quickly even though past earnings have already improved significantly.FEICBUYProjected value continues to rise for FEI while long term increases in earnings growth are also becoming more widely expected.ASBCBUYMany analysts are expecting higher than previously expected long term growth from Associated Bancorp, and its near-term earnings outlook is also improving....

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Zero Hedge

Ten Minutes With Italy's Mario Monti

Courtesy of ZeroHedge. View original post here.

Submitted by CrownThomas.

Italy's Prime Minister (and self appointed economy minister) shot over to CNBC after his meeting with President Obama this afternoon to discuss how well everything looks for Italy since he was elected took over.

Notable Comments:

  • Italian banks are "vulnerable" but have recapitalized themselves (rather, the ECB has given them money)
  • He had a good meeting with Obama, and Obama is supportive (he's careful to...


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Insider Scoop

Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Friday February 10, 2012

Courtesy of Benzinga.

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Friday February 10, 2012:

Actuant Acquires Jeyco Pty

The Deal:
Actuant (NYSE: ATU) announced Friday that it has acquired Jeyco Pty Ltd (“Jeyco”). Headquartered near Perth, Australia, Jeyco designs and provides specialized mooring, rigging and towing systems and services to the offshore oil & gas industry in Australia and other international markets. Additionally, its highly engineered products are used in a variety of applications for other markets including cyclone mooring and marine, defense and mining tow systems. Jeyco generates annual revenues of approximately $20 million.

Actuant shares closed at $27.33 Friday, a loss of 0.18% on average volume.

...

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Market Montage

And Still Not a Single 1% Down Day in 2012

Submitted by Mark Hanna

Courtesy of MarketMontage. View original post here.

A little flurry of buying in the closing 5 minutes tacked on 2 S&P points and took the major indexes off the lows.  Only the Russell 2000 finished with a greater than 1% loss (1.4%) as it has been relatively weak versus the senior indexes for the past few sessions.   While today was the "worst day of the year" – it was quite a low bar as the previous biggest loss on the S&P 500 was -0.57%.

The S&P 500 held well above the 10 day moving average (didn't even really touch it) and did not even attempt to fill the gap from last Friday's employment report.  The teflon market rolls on for now.  Specul...



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ETF Selector

ETFs Skid On Greece (VGK, EWG, FXE, DIA, SPY)

Courtesy of John Nyaradi.

Greece was “saved” for less than 24 hours but now major ETFs around the world skid into the weekend on Greek fears

After wangling for a week or more, Greek took their new deal to the European Ministers meeting, only to have it promptly rejected and so as we go into the weekend, major global markets and ETFs have again hit the skids on Greece.

After two years of wangling, the European zone is demanding yet more and deeper cuts for Greece to qualify for the next round of bailout loans that will keep the country from going bankrupt on March 20th.

Major European and United States ETF responded negatively to the new developments:

SPDR Dow Jones Industrial ETF (NYSEARCA:...



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All About Trends

Mid-Day Update

Reminder: David is available to chat with Members, comments are found below each post.

Click here for the full report.




To learn more, sign up for David's free newsletter and receive the free report from All About Trends - "How To Outperform 90% Of Wall Street With Just $500 A Week." Tell David PSW sent you. - Ilene...

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Option Review

True Religion Falls Apart At The Seams After Earnings

 

Today’s tickers: TRLG, KR & IGT

...



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OpTrader

Swing trading portfolio - week of February 6th, 2012

Reminder: OpTrader is available to chat with Members, comments are found below each post.

This post is for all our live virtual trade ideas and daily comments. Please click on "comments" below to follow our live discussion. All of our current  trades are listed in the spreadsheet below, with entry price (1/2 in and All in), and exit prices (1/3 out, 2/3 out, and All out).

We also indicate our stop, which is most of the time the "5 day moving average". All trades, unless indicated, are front-month ATM options. 

Please feel free to participate in the discussion and ask any questions you might have about this virtual portfolio, by clicking on the "comments" link right below.

To learn more about the swing trading virtual portfolio (strategy, performance, FAQ, etc.), please click here

Optrader 

...

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Stock World Weekly

Stock World Weekly: The Relentless Pursuit of Meaningless Metrics

NEW: Elliott and Ilene are available to chat with Members regarding topics presented in SWW, comments are found below each post.

Here's the latest Stock World Weekly, called "The Relentless Pursuit of Meaningless Metrics."  

...

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IRA Strategy/Income Trader

Weekend Virtual Portfolio Update 1/30/2012

Here is a quick update of past trades and our current position. AA Money No trade this week as we wait for AA to settle. Phil remarked last week that AA seemed overvalued. In the meantime, it looks like we might have to roll our Feb 9 calls. Good thing we sold only 5 of them against our position. Last week P&L - 310.00 We lost ground last week, but we still have 11 months to sell premium! FAS Money Very good week for FAS Money as we benefited from the large amount of premium sold the previous week. We covered most of the shorts in advance of the Fed speech, but sold another set of options on Wednesday after the speech - 2 FAS calls that expired worthless on Friday, 2 FAS put that we are still holding and 2 FAZ put that we bought back for a profit on Friday. A late stick comparable to last week's almost gave us problems at the end of the day though! Last week P&L - $4277.00 IWM Money A decent week in this virtual portfo...

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Pharmboy

Biotech Investing for 2012

Reminder: Pharmboy is available to chat with Members, comments are found below each post.

Finding new and exciting Biotech companies that target novel mechanisms is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.  Sure there are many companies working on cutting edge science, but investing in those companies to reap the rewards of their work is a very dangerous game.  More often than not, companies fail because the mechanism does not pan out, the compound(s) do not have pharmacokinetics (get into the body or last very long in the body), or an adverse event happens that knocks years off a development timeline.  In addition, the stock can be manipulated by market makers so investors don't know which way is up.  I approach investing in biotechs as a long term prospect.  I continue to like our current portfolio of biotech companies (join in chat for many of those plays), and we continually add/subtract shares and sell/buy options on ...



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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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