Rumor Mill Sends Traders to Shire Options, Drives Shares to All-Time High
by Option Review - May 11th, 2011 4:02 pm
Today’s tickers: SHPGY, ODP, SKX & GNW
SHPGY - Shire PLC – The maker of Adderall XR and other pharmaceutical products attracted a diverse crowd of bullish options strategists during the session on speculation there are parties interested in acquiring the biopharmaceutical company. Shares in Shire are currently up 2.95% to arrive at an intraday- and new all-time high of $96.00. Plain-vanilla call buyers flocked to front month to position for continued new highs in Shire’s shares ahead of May expiration. Meanwhile, June contract put options provided the medium for a different type of bullish play today. Speculators engaging near-term call options picked up in- and out-of-the-money contracts, purchasing around 500 calls as high as the May $100 strike for an average premium of $0.23 each. Call buyers at the May $100 strike profit at expiration if shares in Shire are trading above $100.23. Investors may also choose to sell the calls ahead of expiration at an advantageous price should takeover chatter continue to bump up the price of the underlying, and perhaps more importantly, options implied volatility. Shire’s overall reading of implied volatility is up 24.5% to stand at 26.59% as of 2:15pm in New York. The options trader targeting put options is positioning to maximize profits on a credit spread should shares in Shire exceed $92.50 through June expiration. It looks like the investor sold approximately 2,400 puts at the June $92.5 strike for a premium of $1.63 each, and purchased roughly the same number of puts at the lower June $85 strike at a premium of $0.45 apiece. The investor pockets a net credit representing maximum potential profits on the spread of $1.18 per contract, and keeps all of it as long as the put options expire worthless at expiration. The risk involved in this type of strategy is not for the faint of heart. Shares in SHPGY could potentially reverse course ahead of expiration. In such a case, the trader starts losing money below a breakeven share price of $91.32. Maximum potential losses on the transaction, while limited to $6.32 per contract, far exceed the net credit received for bearing the risk. However, it seems the investor is willing to tolerate this risk-reward profile…
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn 
del.icio.us
DiggThree-Legged Play Positions Options Trader for a RadioShack Rally
by Option Review - March 30th, 2011 4:12 pm
Today’s tickers: RSH, BLK, KBH & GNW
RSH - RadioShack Corp. – A three-legged options combination play on RadioShack today signals long-term bullish sentiment on the consumer electronics goods retailer in addition to the flurry of near-term bullish call activity observed during the session on yet another bout of renewed private equity speculation. Shares in RadioShack are up 1.45% to arrive at $15.34 just before 1:00pm. One options trader looked to the January 2012 contract, selling put options in order to partially finance the purchase of a debit call spread. The trader sold 5,000 Jan. 2012 $12.5 strike put options at a premium of $0.90 each, purchased 5,000 in-the-money Jan. 2012 $15 strike calls for a premium of $2.15 per contract, and sold 5,000 calls at the higher Jan. 2012 $22.5 strike at a premium of $0.25 apiece. The net cost of the three-legged trade amounts to $1.00 per contract. Thus, the investor profits if shares in RadioShack rise another 4.3% over the current price of $15.34 to surpass the effective breakeven price of $16.00 by January expiration. Maximum potential profits of $6.50 per contract are available to the trader should shares in RSH soar 46.7% higher in the next nine months to exceed $22.50 by expiration day in 2012. Selecting the in-the-money $15 strike calls and the deep out-of-the-money $22.50 strike calls positions the investor to benefit from a massive run up in RSH shares should a buyout occur at some point ahead of expiration. Meanwhile, the sale of the $12.50 strike put options lowers the trader’s breakeven point on the upside and allows him to start making money faster if shares continue to move in his favor. The short put options do, however, indicate the trader may wind up having 500,000 shares of the underlying stock put to him at $12.50 each if the contracts land in-the-money and are exercised at expiration. Shares in RadioShack have not dipped below $12.50 since May 2009, but did top $22.50 as recently as October…
Investors Bumps Up Bullish Stance on Ford Motor Co.
by Option Review - August 2nd, 2010 4:13 pm
Today’s tickers: F, GNW, VRSN & OCR
F – Ford Motor Co. – A massive bullish transaction involving 300,000 call options on the auto manufacturer today indicates one big player is increasingly optimistic that Ford’s shares are likely to stay their upward trajectory through September expiration. The price of the auto maker’s shares rallied 2.90% to $13.14 by 12:30 pm ET on news Chinese automaker, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., completed its purchase of Volvo Cars from Ford by shelling out $1.3 billion in cash and issuing a $200 million note for the acquisition. Ford’s credit rating was also raised two levels by Standard & Poor’s today on optimism the firm will remain profitable, and due to improved investor and consumer perception of the Dearborn, MI-based company. The enormous bullish trade on Ford appears to be the work of an investor booking profits by first selling a previously established long call position, and next initiating a fresh more-bullish stance on the stock. It appears the investor originally purchased 150,000 calls at the September $12 strike for an average premium of $0.41 each back on July 9, 2010, when Ford’s shares closed at $10.85. The subsequent rally in the price of the underlying stock boosted premium on the September $12 strike calls, allowing the trader to sell all 150,000 now in-the-money contracts at an average premium of $1.40 apiece. Net profits on the sale of the call options amounts to $0.99 per contract. Next the investor purchased 150,000 fresh in-the-money calls at the September $13 strike for an average premium of $0.75 per contract. Profits start to accumulate on the new position if Ford’s shares rally another 4.65% over the current price of $13.14 to surpass the effective breakeven point to the upside at $13.75 by expiration day next month.
GNW – Genworth Financial, Inc. – A three-legged bullish options combination play initiated on the insurance company today suggests one strategist expects Genworth’s shares to rally significantly ahead of expiration day in December. GNW’s shares inched up during morning trading, but later slipped 0.30% lower to stand at $13.54 by 12:50 pm ET. The investor appears to have sold put options in order to offset the cost of buying a debit call spread. To establish the spread the trader sold 4,000 puts at the December $12 strike for an average premium of $1.04 each, purchased 4,000 calls at the December…
US Airways Group, Inc. Call Player at Work as Shares Take Off
by Option Review - June 2nd, 2010 4:45 pm
Today’s tickers: LCC, XLI, CXO, AMGN, DISH, GNW, DVN, WFR, DISCA & HIG
LCC – US Airways Group, Inc. – Shares of the operator of US Airways are trading higher by 7.50% to $9.29 in late afternoon trading after earlier rallying more than 10.50% to secure a new 52-week high of $9.55. The jump in shares prompted one bullish investor to bank profits on a previously established long call position as well as initiate fresh optimistic stances on the stock. US Airways Group’s shares were helped higher, along with shares of other airline operators, after Continental Airlines Inc. posted better-than-expected monthly unit revenue for May. The LCC-bull appears to have originally purchased approximately 29,000 calls at the June $10 strike for an average premium of $0.23 apiece back on May 26, 2010, when shares of the underlying stock were trading at a volume-weighted average price of $8.33. Today, the trader sold 28,900 calls at the June $10 strike for a premium of $0.45 each to pocket net profits of $0.22 per contract. The same investor then extended optimism on US Airways Group, Inc. by purchasing 25,900 fresh calls at the higher June $11 strike for a premium of $0.24 each. The new June $11 strike call position readies the investor to amass profits should LCC’s shares rally 17.7% over the stock’s new high of $9.55 to surpass the effective breakeven price of $11.24 by expiration. Finally, the trader extended high hopes for a significant rally in US Airways’ shares by picking up another 21,450 calls at the July $12 strike for a premium of $0.32 per contract. The July contract call options yield profits to the bullish player if shares of the airline operator surge 29% to exceed the breakeven price of $12.32 ahead of July expiration.
XLI – Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund – Put strategists populating the XLI, an exchange-traded fund designed to provide investment results that correspond to the price and yield performance of the Industrial Select Sector of the S&P 500 Index, initiated bullish and bearish transactions on the fund today. Shares of the ETF are currently trading 2.00% higher on the day at $29.52 as of 3:05 pm (ET). The first of the two large trades observed on the XLI was enacted by an investor selling-to-close a large-volume long put stance in the June contract. It looks like the trader originally purchased 27,000 puts at…
Optimistic individual Initiates Mammoth Bullish Risk Reversal Play on Conseco
by Option Review - March 31st, 2010 6:20 pm
Today’s tickers: CNO, OSIP, HIG, FXI, JDSU, ARQL, GNW, TEVA, KO & UBS
CNO – Conseco, Inc. – The holding company for a number of insurance companies, such as Colonial Penn Life Insurance Co. and Washington National Insurance Co., popped up on our ‘most active by options volume’ market scanner late in the session after a massive bullish risk reversal was established on the stock in the January 2011 contract. Conseco’s shares declined 0.80% during the course of the trading day to stand at $6.18. It looks like one optimistic options player sold 33,727 puts at the January 2011 $5.0 strike for a premium of $0.50 apiece in order to partially finance the purchase of 33,727 calls at the same strike for $1.80 each. The net cost of the transaction amounts to $1.30 per contract. Thus, the investor responsible for the reversal is prepared to amass profits if Conseco’s shares rally through the breakeven price of $6.30 ahead of expiration day in January. The 67,454 contracts involved in the spread trump existing open interest on the stock of 48,756 lots.
OSIP – OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. – The outline of a slightly lopsided iron condor appeared in the May contract on OSI Pharmaceuticals, indicating one options investor expects shares of the biotechnology company to trade within a specified range through expiration. OSIP’s shares surrendered 0.85% during afternoon trading to stand at $59.55 perhaps after The Wall Street Journal reported that Astellas Pharma, Inc. is extending its tender offer for OSI Pharmaceuticals – valued at $3.5 billion – by three weeks to April 23, 2010. The investor responsible for the iron condor play essentially enacted two credit spreads, one using put options and the other calls, in order to pocket options premium. On the call side, the trader shed 4,000 contracts at the May $60 strike for a premium of $1.90 apiece, spread against the purchase of the same number of calls at the higher May $62.5 strike for $0.90 each. As for the puts, the investor sold 4,000 lots at the May $55 strike for a premium of $0.94 per contract, marked against the purchase of 4,000 puts at the lower May $50 strike for $0.62 each. Notice that the put credit spread is wider than the spread on the call side, which creates a lopsided iron condor in this case. The net credit pocketed by the trader amounts to $1.32…
PSW Rewind of 2009 – The First Quarter
by Phil - January 1st, 2010 2:42 pm
Thursday’s close was very exciting, wasn’t it?
Well it sure was for us as my 10:01 Alert to Members was a play on the DIA Jan $103 puts at .56. Thanks to the late afternoon dip, they finished the day at .90 (up 60%) after peaking out at .95, a very nice win to close off the year. That was the only Alert trade all week as this market has been too tough to call and we don’t make trades just for the hell of it. I had been sniping at DIA puts all week expecting a pay-off but Thursday it finally came together.
Of course, I also strongly advocated hedging on Thursday morning and listed 4 trade ideas in the morning post to hedge ourselves against the possibility of just such a drop so don’t say you haven’t been warned. Whether there will be follow-through on Monday or a full reversal remains to be seen and, even if I knew, I wouldn’t tell you here because this is a review – predictions are another article entirely.
We treaded very cautiously into last year because our PSW Holiday Retail Survey was not looking very pretty so it was no surprise to us, on Dec 26th, when we got some horrific retail reports. These are, of course, the same reports that we "beat" this year – but not by much. Dec 29th was Monday and Israeli jets attacked Hamas targets in the Gaza sending oil flying up to $48 a barrel. That gave us a nice commodity rally into the close of the year but January 2nd was a Friday and we decided (fortunately) to take the money and run on our long plays, holding open our main cover of SKF Jan $120s at $4.35, which hit $80 later in the month (up 1,732%) and USO Feb $32 puts at $3.40, which hit $10.50 in the Feb dip (up 208%) so, on the whole, not too differently positioned than we are now, coming into the new year. Visually 2009 looked a little like this:
January – Waiting for Obama, or Something, to Change
We began January much the same way we ended December with my Wed Jan 7th comment being: "We call it "Testy Tuesday" for a reason and our 5% rule was tested twice during the day but the market failed to…
Sizeable Combination Trade in Regions Financial
by Option Review - October 1st, 2009 4:31 pm
Today’s tickers: RF, GNW, EEM, RHT, MRVL, CMCSA & LEAP
RF - Banking services firm, Regions Financial, jumped onto our ‘most active by options volume’ market scanner this afternoon after one investor exchanged 120,000 option contracts on the stock. The investor made bullish moves on RF despite the more than 3.5% decline in shares to $5.97. It appears the trader sold puts short 40,000 times at the May 6.0 strike for an average premium of 1.30 apiece, in order to finance the purchase of a bull call spread. The investor constructed the spread by buying 40,000 calls at the January 6.0 strike for one dollar each and simultaneously selling 40,000 calls at the higher January 10 strike for 12 pennies apiece. The trader receives a net credit of 42 cents per contract on the three-legged strategy. He retains the full credit of $1,680,000 as long as shares remain higher than $6.00 through expiration in May of 2010. However, additional profits are available if shares of Regions Financial rally by expiration in January. Maximum potential profits on the call spread amount to 4.0 per contract – or a total of $16,000,000 – if shares of RF surge 68% from the current price to $10.00 before the calls expire in January. – Regions Financial Corp. –
GNW - The financial security company experienced a more than 5.5% decline in shares to arrive at the current price of $11.28. Bearish investors active on GNW today exchanged more than 3.5 put options to every single call option in play on the stock. One investor took a long-term pessimistic stance by initiating a ratio calendar spread. The transaction involved the purchase of 10,000 puts at the December 10 strike for an average premium of 1.22 per contract, spread against the sale of 15,000 puts at the lower January 2011 7.5 strike for 1.70 each. The investor takes a credit on the trade because he received richer option premium on the sale of a greater number of puts set to expire in January 2011. The placement of this trade suggests the investor is bracing for potential declines in GNW through expiration in December. – Genworth Financial, Inc. –
EEM - Shares of the emerging markets exchange-traded fund have dipped 2.5% lower to $37.90, prompting one trader to establish a bearish risk reversal in the January contract. The trader targeted the January 38 strike to sell 12,000 just out-of-the-money…
Option Traders Latch Onto Rambus Chatter
by Option Review - September 4th, 2009 5:52 pm
Today’s tickers: RMBS, BIIB, IYF, OSK, GNW, XOP & S
RMBS - The latest from the rumor mill suggests that the memory chip maker may be the target of a buyout by Samsung Electronics for approximately $25.00 to $27.50 per share. Some analysts reported that such rumors are likely unfounded, and we should note also this is currently idle market chatter. Nevertheless, frenzied options activity was observed on the stock amid a more than 8% rally to $17.22. Option traders concentrated their efforts on out-of-the-money calls in the near-term September contract. Nearly 6,000 calls were picked up at the September 18 strike for about 68 cents each. The higher September 19 strike had 5,000 calls purchased for an average of 47 cents apiece. Finally, the most bullish investors looked as high as the September 20 strike to gather up more than 8,000 calls for 37 cents per contract. Rumors remain unconfirmed, but traders holding the call options are positioned to bank some serious profits if the buyout speculation proves accurate by expiration this month. – Rambus Inc. –
BIIB - The largest maker of medicines for multiple sclerosis announced that it has extended an unsolicited takeover bid, worth $356 million in cash, for its drug partner Facet Biotech Corporation. Shares of BIIB rose more than 2% during the session to the current price of $51.03. Perhaps the takeover bid inspired the bullish reversal strategy we observed in the April contract today. One investor appears to have shed 10,000 puts at the April 35 strike price for a premium of 90 cents apiece in order to partially offset the cost of purchasing 5,000 calls at the higher April 55 strike for 3.80 each. The net cost of the transaction amounts to 2.00 per contract. The investor responsible for the trade will begin to accrue profits if shares of BIIB rally approximately 12% from the current price to breach the breakeven point at $57.00 by expiration day. – Biogen IDEC, Inc. –
IYF - Shares of the IYF have moved slightly higher during the session, gaining less than 0.5% to arrive at the current price of $50.09. The ETF jumped onto our ‘most active by options volume’ market scanner this afternoon after a large bullish reversal play was initiated in the November contract. We note that the transaction was tied to stock. The investor responsible for the trade shed 20,000 puts at the November 40…
Genworth Financial Rallies Amidst Reversal Positioning Through Options
by Option Review - August 12th, 2009 5:23 pm
Today’s tickers: GNW, ERTS, RCL, WFT, PETM, BBY, AKAM, KR, & FITB
German
Spanish
French
Italian
Portuguese
Japanese
Korean
Russian
Chinese
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
(