Bullish Player Adjusts Sizable Stance in EMC Corp. Call Options
by Option Review - February 10th, 2011 5:05 pm
Today’s tickers: EMC, MHS, AA & AEO
EMC - EMC Corp. – Large blocks of in- and out-of-the-money call options exchanged on EMC Corp. during the first 25 minutes of the trading session appear to be the work of one investor taking profits off the table on the one hand, and ultimately extending bullish sentiment on the stock on the other. Shares in the provider of information infrastructure technologies and solutions are currently up a slightly 0.10% to stand at a fresh 52-week high of $27.11 just before 12:00pm. It looks like the options trader originally purchased 30,000 calls at the April $24 strike for $1.00 per contract back on January 3, 2011, when shares in the name were trading around $23.23. The subsequent rally in the price of the underlying lifted premium on the now deep in-the-money calls, allowing the investor to sell all 30,000 call options at that strike today for a premium of $2.86 apiece. Net profits on the transaction amount to $1.86 per contract. Next, the trader paid a premium of $0.83 per contract to buy a fresh batch of 30,000 calls up at the July $29 strike. The investor starts to make money on the new bullish stance in the event that EMC Corp.’s shares increase another 10.0% to exceed the effective breakeven share price of $29.83 by expiration day in July.
MHS - Medco Health Solutions Inc. – The healthcare company and provider of pharmacy services popped up on our ‘hot by options volume’ market scanner this morning after one strategist initiated a delta neutral strategy using calls, puts and Medco stock. Shares in the name are currently up 0.50% to arrive at $62.29 in early afternoon trade. It looks like the investor purchased 295,800 shares in MHS at a price of $61.88 each, purchased 5,100 puts at the January 2012 $55 strike for a premium of $3.60 each, and sold the same number of call options up at the January 2012 $72.5 strike at a premium of $2.50 apiece,…
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DiggContrarian Player Sees Visa Recovery Story Unfolding by Jan. 2012
by Option Review - September 13th, 2010 8:09 pm
Today’s tickers: V, EMC, MON, SAY, MJN, ADM, BBY, EDMC, EBAY & CHS
V – Visa, Inc. – Shares of the global payments company plunged 4.7% this afternoon to an intraday and new 52-week low of $64.90 following reports that said federal caps and pending litigation may limit Visa’s ability to increase prices. The price of the underlying was also helped lower by a downgrade to ‘market perform’ from ‘outperform’ at Sanford Bernstein, where analysts have a 12-month target price of $77.00 a share on the stock. The sharp decline in the price of the credit card issuer’s shares inspired near-term bearish options trading. More interesting, however, were the contrarian players seen initiating bullish positions in the longer-dated January 2012 contract. One optimistic strategist enacted a three-legged bullish combination play to position for a rebound in Visa’s shares. The investor appears to have sold roughly 2,500 puts at the January 2012 $50 strike for premium of $4.39 each, purchased about the same number of January 2012 $70 strike calls at an average premium of $8.37 a-pop, and sold approximately 2,500 calls at the higher January 2012 $90 strike for a premium of $2.50 apiece. The average net cost of the transaction reduces to $1.48 per contract. Thus, the contrarian player stands ready to make money should Visa’s shares jump 10.1% over today’s low of $64.90 to exceed the average breakeven price of $71.48 by expiration day. Maximum potential profits of $18.52 per contract are available to the investor should shares surge 38.7% to trade above $90.00 by January 2012 expiration. Visa’s shares last traded above $90.00 back on May 4, 2010. Options implied volatility on Visa, Inc. is up 10.8% at 33.75% with just over 20 minutes remaining ahead of the closing bell.
EMC – EMC Corp. – A large chunk of call options were purchased on EMC Corp. in early afternoon trading, however, it looks like the investor responsible for the transaction is taking a bearish stance on the stock rather than a bullish one. EMC’s shares rallied as much as 2.25% in the first half of the trading day to reach an intraday high of $20.43. The current 52-week high on the stock is $20.97, attained back on August 4, 2010. At first glance, the purchase of 20,000 calls at the January 2011 $21 strike at a premium of $1.00 each looks like a bullish bet by an…
Bullish Players Gorge on Apple Calls
by Option Review - June 22nd, 2010 4:06 pm
Today’s tickers: AAPL, APC, GE, CCL, EMC, RAH, EEM, WAG, FTR, OMX & JPM
AAPL – Apple, Inc. – Bulls sank their teeth into Apple call options today in order to position for continued appreciation in the price of the underlying through August expiration. The iPhone maker’s shares increased as much as 2.10% during the trading session to secure an intraday high of $275.97 perhaps on news the firm sold 3 million iPads in the first 80 days since the product was introduced to the U.S. marketplace. Apple optimists expecting shares to surpass yesterday’s new 52-week high of $279.01 purchased 1,100 calls at the August $280 strike for a hefty premium of $14.64 apiece. Investors long the calls are positioned to profit if Apple’s shares rally 6.75% over today’s intraday high of $275.97 to trade above the average breakeven point at $294.64 by August expiration. Bulls anticipating more significant share price gains by August expiration purchased approximately 2,500 calls at the higher August $290 strike for an average premium of $9.70 each. Investors long the August $290 strike contracts make money if the iPod maker’s shares surge 8.6% to exceed the average breakeven price of $299.70 by expiration day. Finally, uber-bulls bought 2,000 calls at the higher August $300 strike for an average premium of $7.38 a-pop. Traders holding the August $300 strike calls stand ready to accumulate profits as long as Apple’s shares jump 11.4% to trade above the average breakeven point on the calls at $307.38 by expiration day in August. Nearly 200,000 option contracts changed hands on Apple, Inc. by 3:00 pm (ET), with call options trading 1.35 times to each single put option in play.
APC – Anadarko Petroleum Corp. – Shares of the independent oil and gas exploration and production company which holds a 25% stake in BP’s leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico dropped 4.35% late in the session to stand at $41.56 as of 3:15 pm (ET). Despite the decline in the price of the underlying today one optimistic option strategist positioned himself to one day bask in the light at the end of the tunnel by enacting a bullish debit call spread in the November contract. APC’s shares plunged 53.4% from a high of $74.14 on April 20 – the day the leak was triggered – down to a 52-week low of $34.54 on June 9, 2010. Since bottoming out on…
Wells Fargo Put Spreaders Back in Town
by Option Review - November 11th, 2009 4:27 pm
Today’s tickers: WFC, AMR, PG, DRYS, DTV, M, EMC, WYNN, TOL & SFD
WFC – Wells Fargo & Co. – A popular option strategy frequently employed on Wells Fargo, the ratio put spread, appeared once again in the January 2010 contract. The bearish play was initiated despite the more than 2% rally in shares during the trading session to $28.75. The ratio spread involved the purchase of 7,500 puts at the January 27.5 strike for an average premium of 1.60 apiece, marked against the sale of 15,000 puts at the lower January 24 strike for 67 cents each. The net cost of the protective play amounts to 26 cents per contract. Thus, downside protection will kick in if shares decline beneath the breakeven price of $27.24 by expiration in January.
AMR – AMR Corp. – American Airlines operator, AMR Corp., attracted a large bullish play by one investor targeting the January 2010 contract. Shares of AMR are up more than 4% to $5.83 with just under one hour remaining in the trading day. An AMR-optimist initiated a call spread by purchasing 15,000 calls at the January 7.5 strike for an average premium of 35 cents each, marked against the sale of 15,000 calls at the higher January 9.0 strike for 10 cents premium apiece. The net cost of the bullish transaction amounts to 25 cents per contract. Profits are available to the call-spreader if shares of AMR rally at least 33% to breach the breakeven point at $7.75 by expiration. Maximum potential profits of 1.25 per contract for a total of $1.875 million are attained by the trader if shares surge 54% to $9.00.
PG – The Proctor & Gamble Co. – Options activity in the January 2011 contract on the consumer products company today indicates one investor expects little fluctuation in shares over the next 14 months. Shares of PG are slightly up by less than 0.25% to stand at $61.90. The trader initiated a sold strangle by selling 2,000 puts at the January 60 strike for 5.73 each, and by selling 2,000 calls at the higher January 65 strike for a premium of 3.82 apiece. The gross premium pocketed on the sale amounts to 9.55 per contract. The strangle-seller retains the full premium if shares of PG remain ‘strangled’ within the parameters of the strike prices described. The investor will benefit from lower option implied volatility on the…
October Overview – When the Goblins Come Home to Roost
by Phil - November 1st, 2009 8:15 am
What a crazy month we had!
The Dow began the month of October at 9,712 and finished the month of October at EXACTLY 9,712. Now I don’t want to say the market is manipulated but… No, I’ve got nothing, there are no buts – the market is totally manipulated! Either that or you believe that the random outcome of tens of millions of traders around the globe trading hundreds of billions of shares of stock would just so happen to begin and end the month within .50 after going as low as 9,378.77 (on the 5th) and as high as 10,157.94 (on the 21st). So that is literally a 1 out of the 779-point swing coincidence to hit that 9,712 nail on the head.
At PSW we couldn’t be happier about this frankly. As I often say to members: We don’t care IF the game is rigged, as long as we can figure out HOW the game is rigged so we can play along. We were bearish in our September 27th Wrap-Up when I predicted that Earnings season would bring about a "Return to Fundamentals." We targeted retrace moves of Dow 9,512, S&P 1,020, Nasdaq 2,030, NYSE 9,496 and Russell 556 – all of which we hit the following Friday.
That week I highlighted my fundamental market concerns and Monday (9/28) my topic was "6 Unemployed People Per Available Job," Tuesday I said "Consumer Confidence is Key," Wednesday we caught the turn perfectly as I predicted "End of Quarter, End of Pump," and Thursday, October 1st was the day that "REIT’s Turned Rotten" – which was something we had been playing for during the September rally so we were thrilled with what is NOW the 2nd worst down day of the month. That was the day GS decided to agree with me that REITs were over-valued and gave us a signal that the Gang of 12 were no longer all on the same page. Friday, the 2nd, we were back to looking at the Jobs numbers when I asked "Is Anybody Working for the Weekend."
We could not have been more pleased with what was the worst week in the market since then end of August, which was a,most as bad at the beginning of July (are you beginning to see a pattern?) and I said that Friday: "Just like any good roller coaster, market plunges can…
Testy Tuesday – Apple Leads Earnings Boosters
by Phil - October 20th, 2009 8:29 am
Wheee, being bullish is fun!
We’re still not great at it as we shorted a few toppy-looking calls yesterday (WFMI, QLD, SPY and POT) but that was a normal offset to bullish plays on SO, ERX, VZ, RIMM, BMY, EMC, AAPL, TXN and T. Of course, we’re also playing our bullish Watch List, which still has plenty of laggards that we’re picking up. SRS was irresistible as they fell below $9.50 again but clearly we tipped bullish and all those bullish plays from last week should start bearing some fruit as well. The best thing about being a bull is – the markets went up for no reason on low volume and we were happy about it – Imagine that!
Of course we are still skeptical because the economy still sucks but it is fun to get a little more bullish while it lasts. Even our too bearish $100KP enjoyed yesterday’s action, finishing the day $101,364. That won’t last if we keep going higher and I’ll be looking for some bullish plays to officially add there if we hold our levels today (we didn’t yesterday).
AAPL is going to be a huge winner for us this morning. We’ve been selling Jan $165 and $170 puts for weeks as our key way to play earnings (collecting between $5 and $7) and yesterday, in Member Chat, I suggested selling the $185 puts for $7 as well as the April $180/200 bull call spread, also at $7. It was my position that you would be better off putting $2,000 into either of those plays than you would be spending $18,750 to buy 100 shares of the stock ahead of earnings. It will be interesting to see which position fares better today.
In other earnings fun, we are strategically taking well-hedged earnings plays. ZION was a ratio backspread, buying 4 Apr $21 calls for $2.10 and selling 6 Dec $19 calls for $1.55 in a bearish play on their earnings. Looking good so far. BSX was also played for a miss, selling an even amount of Nov $10s against the Feb $11s, both at .65 and we went bullish on TXN, buying 6 Jan $25s for .82 and selling just 4 Nov $24s for .70 as we expected good but not great earnings there. We’ll see how those do today but they’re all looking like winners in pre-market. The nice thing about plays like this is the are fairly low-risk and not capital intensive…
Broadcom bears use put spread and call sales
by Option Review - March 30th, 2009 4:26 pm
Today’s tickers: BRCM, BNI, EMC, RIO, GM, VIX, XLF, BAC & ARNA
BRCM Broadcom Corp. Class A – Shares are currently off by 3% to $20.01 for Broadcom, which is engaged in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications. Options activity was largely contained to the May contract. One investor established a put spread by purchasing 7,500 puts at the May 20 strike for 2.00 each, and selling 7,500 puts at the May 18 strike for a premium of 1.15 apiece. The net cost of the trade amounts to 85 cents and yields a maximum potential profit of 1.15 if shares fall to $18.00 by expiration. Further evidence of investor bearishness on BRCM came in the form of 5,000 sold calls at the May 20 strike price for a 2.00 premium per contract. Apparently investors agree that, at least in the near-term, the current $20.01 share price is due for a decline. Option implied volatility has jumped from Friday’s reading of 64% to the current value of 70%.
BNI Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation – When you need your share price to rise in the face of a 4.3% equity market decline you could do one of two things. First, have Goldman Sachs upgrade the company or second, find someone to suggest out loud that your shares might be bought by legendary investor, Warren Buffett. Sadly, neither seems to have worked for the operator of one of the largest railroad networks in North America, which has seen its shares dip slightly by 2% to stand at $60.71. BNI was upgraded to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’ at Goldman Sachs amid rumors about a possible purchase of the company by Berkshire Hathaway. Option traders reflected the bullish upgrade by purchasing calls in the April contract. At the April 65 strike price 3,300 calls were scooped up for an average price of 1.50, while at the higher April 70 strike more than 3,200 calls were bought for a 55 cent premium. In order for the April 70 calls to turn profits for optimistic traders, shares would need to rally by 16% to the breakeven share price of $70.55 by expiration.
EMC EMC Corporation – The IT support company has experienced a share price decline of about 3.5% to $11.17. EMC edged onto our ‘most active by options volume’ market scanner after some large volume trades were initiated in the April and May contracts. It…
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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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