VZ - Verizon Communications, Inc. – Upside call options are in play on Verizon this morning, with shares in the wireless carrier up better than 2.1% on the session at $44.53 on an upgrade to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Neutral’ with a 12-month target price of $50.00 at Piper Jaffray. Traders positioning for shares in Verizon to rise to their highest level since October 2012 picked up roughly 1,700 calls at the May $46 strike for an average premium of $0.64 apiece. Call buyers stand ready to profit at May expiration should shares in VZ rally another 4.7% to top the average breakeven price of $46.64. Nearer-term bullish activity is notable in the Feb. $44 strike calls, where upwards of 3,400 in-the-money options changed hands in the early going. It looks like most of these calls were purchased at an average premium of 0.82 each. Traders long the $44 strike call options make money if shares in Verizon top $44.82 by expiration in two weeks.
FINL - Finish Line, Inc. – Shares in the specialty retailer of athletic footwear and accessories are trading modestly higher on Friday, up 0.20% at $18.68 on a strong up-day for U.S. stocks. Trading traffic in Finish Line options this morning suggests one or more traders are preparing for shares in the name to slip to a new 52-week low during the next few months. Investors in the retailer have had a rough six months, with the price of the underlying declining more than 30% off a six-month high of $24.90 in September, down to a 52-week low of $16.87 on January 8th. Options traders positioning for Finish Line’s shares to pullback purchased roughly 675 puts at the May $17.5 strike for an average premium of $0.98 apiece this morning. Put buyers may profit if shares in FINL drop 11.5% from the current price of $18.68 to trade below the breakeven point at $16.52. Indianapolis-based Finish Line reports fourth-quarter earnings at the end of March.…
XLK - Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF – A sizable short straddle on the Technology SPDR ETF comprises nearly all of the day’s options volume generated on the fund as of 1:00pm in New York. It looks like the investor responsible for the transaction is hoping to see the price of the underlying settle as close to $26.00 as possible by expiration day next month. Shares in the XLK, an exchange-traded fund that corresponds to the price and yield performance of the Technology Select Sector of the S&P 500 Index, increased as much as 1.0% during the session to secure an intraday high of $25.94. The straddle-strategist appears to have sold 15,000 calls and 15,000 in-the-money puts at the May $26 strike to pocket gross premium of around $1.08 per contract. The investor keeps the full amount of premium received on the trade if shares in the XLK settle at $26.00 at expiration. The trader may walk away with some portion of the total premium as long as the ETF’s shares trade within the range of $27.08 to the upside, and $24.92 on the downside, through expiration in May. The short-straddle player will also benefit from declines in options implied volatility and the passage of time, as both factors erode premium on the options and cheapen the cost of buying back the straddle, should he choose to do so, at some future date.
FCS - Fairchild Semiconductor International – May contract call activity on the semiconductor maker appears to be the work of an options player taking a bullish stance on Fairchild ahead the company’s Thursday morning first-quarter earnings report. Shares in the San Jose, CA-based company are currently down 1.2% to stand at $19.00 in early-afternoon trade. The options strategist initiated a debit call spread, buying roughly 2,200 calls at the May $21 strike for an average premium of $0.60 each, and selling the same number of calls up at the May $23 strike at an average premium…
DISH – DISH Network Corp. – The implementation of a ratio put spread on the U.S. provider of direct broadcast satellite subscription television service this afternoon was perhaps put on by an investor looking to lock in recent share price gains. DISH shares, which are currently up 2.4% on the day to arrive at $20.77 by 3:40 pm ET, have rebounded nearly 17.5% since touching down to $17.75 on July 1, 2010. It looks like one trader purchased 3,000 puts at the December $20 strike for an average premium of $1.58 each, and sold 6,000 puts at the lower December $18 strike for an average premium of $0.83 a-pop. The investor responsible for the transaction receives a net credit of $0.08 per contract, and keeps the full amount at long as DISH’s shares exceed $20.00 through December expiration. The trader is perhaps utilizing the spread to protect the value of a position in the underlying shares. If this is the case, downside protection kicks in should shares reverse course to trade below $20.00 by expiration day. The decision to employ a ratio spread rather than a 1-by-1 spread or a plain-vanilla long put stance suggests this investor does not expect DISH shares to collapse ahead of expiration at the end of 2010. The firm is scheduled to report second-quarter earnings ahead of the opening bell on August 9, 2010.
LBTYA – Liberty Global, Inc. – It looks like one options strategist expects shares of the international producer of video, voice and broadband internet services to remain range-bound through October expiration. Liberty Global’s shares are currently down 0.20% to stand at $29.65 as of 3:05 pm ET. LBTYA reported an adjusted net loss of $2.42 a share for the second quarter of 2010 after the market closed on Tuesday. But, shares moved very little following earnings. Perhaps the lack of fluctuation in the price of the underlying shares during earnings season bolstered the strangle seller’s premonition that LBTYA’s shares are likely to trade within a specified range for the next couple of months. The investor appears to have sold roughly 10,000 puts at the October $27.5 strike for a premium of $0.70 each in combination with the sale of about the same number of calls at the October $32.5 strike for an average premium of $0.35 apiece. The trader pockets…
Our current fiat currency standard is terminal, nations around the world are dropping the U.S. dollar as a medium of exchange, central banks are buying gold, and Americans are seeing price inflation during an economic downturn. In order to avoid a systemic financial crisis here in the U.S., we need to focus on solutions. This mini-documentary expounds the problems and a solution to the real economic crisis hiding under the safety blanket of an equity market at all-time highs.
Factset Buyback Quarterly has an interesting series of charts and facts on corporate share buybacks.
Here is my favorite chart in the series.
Aggregate Buybacks: Dollar-value share repurchases amounted to $93.8 billion over the fourth quarter and $384.3 billion for 2012. The fourth quarter total is in-line with that of Q3, but represented year-over-year growth of 9.6%.
Sector Trends: The Information Technology and Health Care sectors spent the most on quarterly repurchases ($19.8 billion and $14.4 billion, respectively) in Q4 2012. However, of the sec...
"Europe needs to be rethought. We consider just one year of information and then hold a referendum to say yes or no to the euro and yes or no to Europe. " Beppe Grillo to ride a strong theme of the last election campaign the 5 Star Movement. "Europe on the euro and the British teach us democracy. No party can claim the right to decide for...
Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.36 percent to 15,390.13, while the NASDAQ rose 0.17 percent to 3,502.38. The S&P was also up, gaining 0.30 percent to 1,671.30.
Top Headline Home Depot (NYSE: HD) reported an 18.5% increase in its Q1 earnings and lifted its 2013 earnings forecast.
Home Depot's quarterly profit surged to $1.2 billion, or $0.83 per share, versus $1 billion, or $0.68 per share, in the year-ago quarter.
Its net sales climbed 7.4% to $19.1 billion from $17.8 billion, while comparable-store sales rose 4.3%. However, analysts were estimating earnings of $0.76 pe...
ANF - Abercrombie & Fitch Co. – Shares in teen retailer, Abercrombie & Fitch Co., are getting hammered today, down 10% at $48.92 in early-afternoon trading after the company reported a wider-than-expected first-quarter loss and missed topline estimates, lowered its full year earnings forecast and said same-store sales would be down slightly for the rest of the year. A review of pre-earnings report activity in Abercrombie options yesterday indicates one trader was prepared for the pullback today. It looks like the strategist initiate...
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...
While the S&P 500 has had quite a year already the Nikkei has been the story of the globe as they are performing acts of central banking that even put the U.S. Fed to shame. And Japan's central bank can buy ETFs and REITs directly per their charter versus the U.S. bank. Combined with a yen in free fall it's been a heck of a move for the Nikkei since last November. I noted last week we were seeing extremely rare weekly and monthly type overbought readings on bo...
The market went through some gyrations on Wednesday in reaction to Fed Chairman Bernanke’s testimony before the Joint Economic Committee. He first defended continued quant easing by warning, “A premature tightening of monetary policy could lead interest rates to rise temporarily but also would carry a substantial risk of slowing or ending the economic recovery.” Stocks dutifully rallied and all major indexes hit new intraday highs.
But alas, consensus is apparently not a given over the longer term. The minutes hinted that a tapering off could start sooner, “A number of participants expressed willingness to adjust the flow of purchases downward as early as the June meeting if the economic information received by that time showed evidence of sufficiently strong and sustained growth.” So …...
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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.
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Reminder: Craigzooka is available to chat with Members regarding his virtual portfolio performance, comments are found below each post.
By Craigzooka
I am going to share with you how I manage my IRA and the power of reducing your cost basis. My goal each year is a 20% return in my IRA. Sometimes I make it and sometimes I don't, but I believe that all of my success is due to reducing my cost basis. To illustrate the power of reducing your cost basis here are some trades we did last year. These trades are taken from an educational portfolio we ran in a paper-trading account for a little more than a year.
We bought RIG on 5/15/2012 for $44.13, sold it on 1/18/2013 for $46 but booked a profit of $1,154.
We bought MT on 1/4/2012 for $19.24, sold it on 12/21/2012 for $15 but booked a profit of $454.
We bought CHK on 1/27/2012 for $21.93, sold it on 10/19/2012 for $18 b...
Stock market posts another record setting week, but the big news came after Friday’s close.
Courtesy of NASA
The stock market put on another record setting show with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSEARCA:DIA) closing at a record high 15,118 and the S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:SPY) closing at 1633.70, another all time closing high.
For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSEARCA:DIA) gained 1%, the S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:SPY) climbed 1.2%, the Nasdaq Composite (NYSEARCA:...
Reminder: Pharmboy is available to chat with Members, comments are found below each post.
Well, well, well....it is good to know that there are others in the scientific arena who believed that YMI Bioscience's data (cough - Gilead) is a better drug than Incyte's Jakafi. Now, the definitive data are still unknown, but there was enough evidence from a Phase 2 trial to take a small risk for a huge reward. So, let's forget about Apple (AAPL), and do nothing but biotechs from now until Congress passes universal health care coverage for prescriptions....and drive the prices down so that research and development is no longer feasible to conduct in the US. Even Seattle Genetics (SGEN) has been on a tear as of late...
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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
(
