Bearish Play In Avon Products Options Suggests Rally Short Lived
by Option Review - December 14th, 2011 2:35 pm
Today’s tickers: AVP, FSLR & GLD
AVP - Avon Products, Inc. – Investors cheered news that the beauty products seller will seek a replacement for its current CEO next year, sending shares in Avon Products up as much as 11.1% to $17.93 at the start of the trading session. The purchase of 10,000 calls at the July 2012 $20 strike on a 33 delta may at first glance appear to be the work of a bullish investor gearing up for shares in the cosmetics seller to extend gains. However, the long calls were tied to short stock, indicating the trader responsible is bearish on Avon and hoping to profit from a pullback in the price of the underlying. The investor sold 330,000 shares of AVP stock at $17.40 this morning and bought the calls, thereby synthetically buying long puts to benefit from share price erosion.
FSLR - First Solar, Inc. – Options activity suggests the end of this week may be even uglier for First Solar shareholders who saw the price of the stock tank today after the company again cut its earnings and revenue forecasts for 2011. Shares in the largest U.S. solar company are currently trading at their lowest since 2007, down 20.0% on the day at $33.98 as of 12:15 PM in New York. The stock has dropped more than 80.0% off the February 18, 2011, two-year high of $175.45. December expiry call and put trading on First Solar indicates investors are expecting the sell-off to continue through the end of the trading week and expiration. Bears purchased in- and out-of-the-money puts to prepare for further share price erosion in the next few days. Strategists positioning for the stock to sink to fresh lows picked up 1,600 puts at the Dec. $33 strike this morning for an average premium of $0.78 each.…
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DiggPut Plays Suggest Dim View Of First Solar Through Year End
by Option Review - September 28th, 2011 2:15 pm
Today’s tickers: FSLR, DBC, CDE & SNDK
FSLR - First Solar, Inc. – Put options are active on the world’s largest maker of thin-film solar modules this morning, with shares in the Tempe, Arizona-based company falling as much as 8.35% to touch an intraday low of $66.23. Shares fell after analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their 2011 EPS estimates for First Solar, cut their target share price to $55.00 from $88.00, and reiterated a ‘Sell’ rating on the stock. A debit put spread initiated in the December contract may yield maximum potential profits to one bearish trader if shares in FSLR drop to $55.00 at expiration. It looks like the trader purchased 2,000 in-the-money puts at the Dec. $70 strike for an average premium of $11.50 each, and sold the same number of puts at the lower Dec. $55 strike at an average premium of $4.83 apiece. Net premium paid to initiate the spread amounts to $6.67 per contract. The investor profits at expiration in December if shares in First Solar fall 4.4% off today’s low of $66.23 to breach the effective breakeven point on the spread at $63.33. Maximum potential profits of $8.33 per contract are available to the trader should shares plunge 16.95% to trade below $55.00 at December expiration. Options implied volatility on the stock is up 10.05% at 85.13% as of 12:30 pm EDT.
DBC - PowerShares DB Commodity Index Tracking Fund – Shares in the PowerShares DB Commodity Index Tracking Fund, an ETF that tracks the performance of the DBIQ Optimum Yield Diversified Commodity Index Excess Return, are down slightly by 0.20% to stand at $27.05 this morning. The price of the underlying has fallen 10.5% since the start of September, but options activity on the fund today suggests at least one strategist may benefit from…
Bull Call Spreads Pop Up on Peet’s Coffee & Tea
by Option Review - March 16th, 2011 4:53 pm
Today’s tickers: TIF, EWJ, FSLR, HD, PEET, EWJ, ENDP & CVC
TIF - Tiffany & Co. – The retailer of fine jewelry and other high-end luxury goods has not lost its sparkle according to some contrarian traders establishing bullish bets on the stock this morning. Shares in Tiffany & Co. fell as much as 8.8% to an intraday low of $54.58 today, but pared some of the earlier losses to stand 3.9% lower on the session at $57.52 as of 11:35am in New York. One investor betting on a recovery in the price of Tiffany & Co. shares initiated a three-legged spread to prepare for the rebound. The trader sold 2,500 puts at the January 2012 $50 strike for an average premium of $4.62 each, purchased the same number of in-the-money calls at the January 2012 $55 strike at an average premium of $8.46 per contract, and sold 2,500 calls up at the January 2012 $70 strike for an average premium of $2.77 a-pop. Net premium paid to establish the bullish position amounts to $1.07 per contract. Thus, the options player is prepared to make money in the event that Tiffany’s shares exceed the average breakeven price of $56.07 through expiration day in January. Maximum potential profits of $13.93 per contract pad the investor’s wallet in the event that shares surge 21.7% over the current price of $57.52 to trade above $70.00 by expiration next year. The jewelry retailer’s shares currently tout an all-time high of $65.76, attained back on December 21, 2010. Finally, it looks another trader pocketed profits today on a long-term bearish bet established last month on Valentine’s Day. It appears the investor originally purchased 500 puts at the January 2012 $60 strike for a premium of $5.65 each on February 14, when shares in TIF traded as high as $65.59. Today, it looks like the trader sold the now in-the-money puts for a hefty premium of $9.40 apiece. Net profits on the put sale amount to $3.75 per contract. The overall reading of options implied volatility on Tiffany & Co. is up 11.1% at 45.23% just before 11:55am. The luxury goods retailer is slated to report fourth-quarter earnings before the market opens next Monday.…
13% Thursday – When Will You Capitulate?
by Phil - January 13th, 2011 8:16 am
It’s starting!
The last of the bears are now capitulating. We’re hearing it in Member Chat and we’re reading it in analyst reports and we’re seeing the fund managers on TV – it is very out vogue to be a bear.
Just a few weeks ago, I pointed out to Members how few bears remained by saying "Look to your left, look to your right, look in front of you and look behind you – you would be the only bear." That was way back when "only" 20% of investors were bearish – as of yesterday, we lost 1/3 of those poor creatures and now only 13% of the market is bearish. Now you can look diagonally as well and you’ll STILL be the only bear!
Certainly the market seems to be proving the primary axiom of "You can’t fight the Fed." Pretty much no matter what happens, the market goes up. Bryan Leighton from Traddr! Makes a good point saying: "It’s a neutral to positive market and the only thing that can change that is some sort of surprise event out of Europe or out of Asia or something major out of the US that the Fed is not ready for or prepared for. If they are prepared for it – it will not happen – it will not have a major effect on the markets."
That’s the reality we’re dealing with out there. As long as the Fed and their pet IBanks are running the markets and as long as volume is at 3-year lows, allowing the TradeBots to control each move – then it is wrong to be a bear. But, is it 87% wrong? 87% bullish sentiment isn’t just "very" bullish – it’s a new, historic high. It’s like going to a fight where the entire crowd only cheers for one guy which, like professional wrestling, would be an automatic indication that the game must be fake, Fake, FAKE!
As you can see from this longer-term chart, we are as extremely bullish now as we were extremely bearish in the two worst market events of the past quarter-century. Much the way that Black Monday of 1987 and the Crashes of 2008/9 were unique buying opportunities at 15% bullish, this may be a unique shorting opportunity at 15% bearish that you are not likely to see again for…
Tempting Tuesday – Getting in the Zone
by Phil - November 16th, 2010 8:29 am
It’s hard to be in cash, isn’t it?
I’ve been calling for cash for weeks and now I’m starting to feel like Braveheart, trying to get anxious Members to hold, Hold, HOLD in chat every day as traders, by nature, like to trade and sitting in cash waiting for market certainty is pretty boring. Of course it’s a lot less boring than riding the market down all tied up in positions, isn’t it? As you can see from David Fry’s TLT chart, we did get it right when I called a top on Treasuries at $105 (Sept 24th) but it did take it a little while before it really began breaking down – better early than late in your market timing!
I was early with "October’s Overbought Eight" on the 3rd although, obviously, we had a few huge winners on our short-term plays as we caught that first dip on NFLX, PCLN, BIDU and FSLR while AMZN is looking good as is TLT (Dec $102 puts now $8.50 from net .35 entry, up 2,328% and done, of course). MOS, on the other hand, went up and up but is finally backing off it’s run. Dec $62.50 puts at $2.10 should do quite well if they fail to hold the $65 line.
CMG, on the other hand, has become our white whale, now up 27% from where we first looked at them. The original play was a ratio backspread of 4 March $190 calls at $10.75 ($4,300), selling 5 Nov $175 calls for $8.75 ($4,375) which was a net credit of $75 on the spread. The good news is the March $190 calls are now $51 ($20,400) but the very bad news is the Nov $175s are now $56 ($28,000). We have, of course adjusted this trade several times but it is still very painful to wait out.
An example of a simple adjustment on a trade like this is to roll the calls to 10 Jan $210 calls at $28 ($28,000) and rolling the March calls to 8 June $230 calls at $29 ($23,200) so an extra $2,800 put into the trade to buy a more manageable 6-month spread. When you do this, you have to keep in mind that your net entry has gone up from a $75 credit to a $2,725 debit and killing the trade now would cost $4,800 more so the…
Take-Off Tuesday Already?
by Phil - July 27th, 2010 8:29 am
Wow, this market goes from zero to sixty in record time, doesn’t it?
Our 1,113 mark (see yesterday’s post for charts) was tested and broken on the S&P yesterday (see David Fry’s chart) on a silly stick save into the close but, seeing that, it was very obvious that "they" are looking to paint some impressive moves on the charts this week so strap yourselves in – it’s going to be a wild one.
1,120 is our next big test on the S&P along with the satanic 666 on the Russell and 10,700 is the next big test for the Dow (as 10,500 seems well in hand). Advancers led decliners 20:1 on the Nasdaq, which shows you what a total farce the market is because we had the same ratios going down so stocks are either ALL good or ALL bad on a random daily basis. Human beings do not trade this way my friends, this market has been totally taken over by machines and the affect of your individual trading is about the same as shotting a water gun into a wave to slow it down.
As long as you accept this fact and "go with the flow" you can be a very happy channel surfer but fight the tide at your own peril! We stuck to hedged plays in yesterday’s Member Chat with our bearish play on FSLR in the Morning Alert and then earnings spreads on MEE and VECO along with long-term bullish plays on LYG, GS, CHK and our beloved TBT, who are finally showing signs of life. We also keep selling GENZ calls to overly enthusiastic buyers who think someone is going to pay more than $70 for the company – even though it was at $50 before the rumors started. Aside from the lack of logic that a buyer with a p/e of under 10 will pay a p/e of over 20 for GENZ, it just isn’t really the right credit environment for buyers to be bidding +40% for a company. We aren’t buying puts but we’ll certainly sell Jan $70 calls for $4 as that’s just silly!
The markets are back in "Soar and Ignore" mode this morning as bad news is now like water off a duck’s back to the market, much the same way good news was ignored just 2 weeks ago. The moon is full this week so I’m going to start charting that against the market as we’re still trying to find some sort of early predictor of…
Monday Market Measurement – Just Right?
by Phil - July 26th, 2010 8:08 am
Welcome to dead center!
We are finally back to the middle of our predicted trading range. It’s the range that our 5% rule predicted since October of 2008 so we’re hardly going to be shocked to be here now. Usually we are shocked when we’re NOT in our range. I detailed the movement this weekend in our 5% Rule Update, so I won’t get into it all here but let’s just focus on our short-term chart and embrace the uncertainty as we move back to the middle of our range at 1,100.
I say it all the time and I’ll say it again: I’m not bullish or bearish – I’m rangeish. That means I get more bullish at 5% under our line and I get more bearish at 5% over our line and I get extremely bullish or bearish as we get into that 10% zone because – if the market fundamentals don’t change – then my midpoint doesn’t change and the opportunity is to play us to return to "reality" at S&P 1,100 (Dow 10,200).
Just look at those nifty little resistance points we have to watch now – the 200 dma is at 1113 and the 50 dma is at 1,084 and we just ran up from 1,030 (we ignore spikes) past the 5% rule at 1,081, which just so happens to be pretty much the 50 dma so that will be our key test for the week as our bottom to top run from 1,101 to 1,102 is close enough to 10% to merit a 2% (20% of the run) pullback back to, WHOOPS!, 1,080. So 1,080, 1,080 and 1,080 is our line in the sand for the week. If the rally is real, the number will hold and, if it doesn’t hold (especially with all the earnings and economic data we have coming in) then we have to look at the drop from 1,220 to 1,020 (200 points) and consider the move back to 1,120 nothing more than a strong, 50% bounce back to our mid-range.
We are past the EU Stress tests but JPM says 54 banks should have failed for the following reasons:
- Lack of rigour in macroeconomic stresses, leading to low virtual portfolio loss rates
- Sovereign haircuts were applied only to trading books and not to accrual books
- JPM estimates show that the lack of rigor in CEBS stress scenarios resulted in a 1.7% upward bias
…
Options Strategist Portends Big Rebound at Anadarko by Jan. 2011 Expiration
by Option Review - June 17th, 2010 4:24 pm
Today’s tickers: APC, FSLR, SFY, V, XRT, NFLX, DV, MTB, SWY & SNE
APC – Anadarko Petroleum Corp. – Trading in longer-dated call options on Anadarko Petroleum this afternoon indicates one options strategist is expecting shares of the independent oil and gas exploration and production company to rebound significantly by expiration in January 2011. APC’s shares rallied 1.5% at the start of the trading session to reach an intraday high of $43.70. However, as the day progressed, shares lost momentum and are currently down 3.90% on the day at $41.38 with 45 minutes remaining before the closing bell. The long-term bullish player appears to have enacted a ratio call spread, buying 2,000 in-the-money calls at the January 2011 $40 strike for a hefty premium of $10.30 apiece, and selling 4,000 calls at the higher January 2011 $55 strike for a premium of $3.60 each. The net cost of the spread amounts to $3.10 per contract. Therefore, the trader is poised to profit should shares of the underlying stock rebound 4.15% to surpass the effective breakeven price of $43.10 by January expiration. The investor stands ready to accrue maximum potential profits of $11.90 per contract in the event that APC’s shares surge 32.9% from the current price of $41.38 to settle at $55.00 by expiration day.
FSLR – First Solar, Inc. – Bullish options players dominated activity on the manufacturer of photovoltaic solar power systems today with shares of the underlying stock rallying sharply by as much as 5.98% this morning to an intraday high of $125.88, the highest the stock has been in one month. The maker of solar modules was raised to ‘outperform’ from ‘neutral’ at Credit Suisse today where analysts upped their target price on the stock to $150.00 from $110.20. First Solar’s shares tapered off by late afternoon to stand 3.50% higher on the day at $122.93 just before 3:30 pm (ET). Investors positioning for continued upward movement in FSLR’s shares by June expiration purchased at least 1,300 calls at the June $125 strike for an average premium of $1.72 apiece. Call buyers at this strike price make money only if shares of the underlying stock trade above the average breakeven price of $126.72 by expiration tomorrow. Buying interest spread to the higher June $130 strike where roughly 1,100 call options were purchased for an average premium of $0.42 per contract. First Solar’s share price would need…
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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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