Three-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…
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DiggOption Trader Closes out Bull Position in Homebuilder as Rally Bites
by Option Review - January 3rd, 2011 4:44 pm
Today’s tickers: KBH, BAC, LNG & ZION
KBH - KB Home – With markets in buoyant mood to start a New Year, investors continue to buy into the homebuilding sector. On Friday we noted bullish options activity on Toll Brothers and today with homebuilders up once more we’ve picked up on the rewards one investor is cashing in on in today’s activity on fellow sector member, KB Home. On September 17 we reported how an investor was loading up for a more-than 25% rise in shares at KB Home by using a January expiration call spread. At the time its share price stood at $11.35 while the investor bought $14 strike calls selling those at the $16 strike at the same time. In doing so the investor reduced the cost of placing a bullish bet from 50-cents to 35-cents. Fast-forward to today’s optimistic trading and shares in KB Home have rallied a further 5% today to stand at $14.25 allowing the investor to shed the now in-the-money $14 calls for 60-cents for a nice return 42% return. The investor isn’t yet out of the woods though and assumes the risk of a further rally in the stock to the $16 strike price where the short call position rests. In all likelihood those calls will expire worthless but the options market teaches us to never say never. The chances of these calls landing in-the-money within three weeks currently stand at one-in-five.
BAC - Bank of America Corp. – As ever, options activity in BoA is sky-high. Today there is at least some fundamental news to drive the frenzy. The nation’s largest bank by assets said its fourth quarter earnings would include a $2 billion impairment charge and a further provision of $3 billion following a settlement on its dispute over allegedly selling loans to Fannie and Freddie, the two behemoths acting as government sponsored entities in the nation’s mortgage market. Shares in the lender rose around 5% to $14.00. Options activity in the January 2012 contract exhibited…
Strangle Strategist Targets MSG Ahead of LeBron James’ Decision
by Option Review - July 7th, 2010 4:11 pm
Today’s tickers: MSG, MOS, LUV, ILMN, GHDX, FCN, KBH, LCC & CSX
MSG – Madison Square Garden, Inc. – Speculation as to which team will acquire the larger-than-life LeBron James continues to mount ahead of the basketball superstar’s Thursday night announcement on ESPN. One options investor put uncertainty in the marketplace to good use by purchasing a strangle on Madison Square Garden, Inc., the fully-integrated sport, entertainment and media business, which, among other things, owns and operates sports franchises including the New York Knicks. MSG’s shares are currently up 1.5% to $20.58 as of 2:50 pm (ET), but earlier surged 5.4% to an intraday high of $21.36. MSG edged onto our ‘hot by options volume’ market scanner after the trader purchased a long strangle in the July contract. The investor appears to be positioning for a dramatic shift in the price of the underlying shares ahead of July expiration. The options strategist purchased a 2,000-lot strangle, buying 2,000 calls at the July $22.5 strike for a premium of $0.60 apiece, and buying 2,000 puts at the lower July $20 strike for a premium of $0.50 each. The net cost of the transaction amount to $1.10 per contract and prepares the strangle-player to benefit nicely as long as MSG’s shares take off running in either direction. Profits are available to the investor if shares rally straight through the current 52-week high on the stock of $22.95 to trade above the effective upper breakeven price of $23.60. If LeBron James were to join the NY Knicks it has been said the value of the MSG franchise will increase significantly. The strangler will certainly benefit if the Knickerbockers turn out to be James’ new teammates because MSG shares are likely to soar. Conversely, the options strategist is poised to profit to the downside should shares trade below the lower breakeven price of $18.90 ahead of expiration day. Perhaps the investor is expecting shares of the underlying stock to suffer if LeBron ends up with a different team. Either way, the investor responsible for the strangle strategy is positioned to benefit from a wayward shift in the price of the underlying stock. But, the trader will lose the full premium paid, $1.10 per contract in this case, if shares trade within the confines of the strike prices described at expiration. Finally, the investor may profit if implied volatility on MSG, which is currently up…
Testy Tuesday Morning
by Phil - January 5th, 2010 8:27 am
Wow – what a lot of work to get back to last Tuesday’s high!
As usual, the vast majority of gains came in pre-market trading and the rest came in light-volume, early morning trading while the rest of the day was dominated by every buyer finding a willing seller for 75% of the day’s volume. We saw what happened on Thursday when someone big wants to sell and there are no buyers so we’ll see how long the bull’s luck (manufactured or otherwise) will hold out as we begin to get economic data along with some early earnings reports.
The Ag sector popped 2% yesterday ahead of tonight’s earings from MOS with MON checking in tomorrow morning so we’ll see how wise those last-minute bets were in short order. SONC also has earnings tonight and we like those guys long-term. SONC makes a decent buy/write candidate as you can buy the stock for $10.29 and sell June $10 puts and calls for $2.25 for a net entry of $8.04 with a very nice 24% profit if called away at $10 and an average entry of $9.02 (a 12% discount) if more stock is put to you below $10 in June.
FDO and WOR also report tomorrow morning. FDO will be interesting but a weak dollar probably hurt them last quarter. Tomorrow night we hear from BBBY, BLUD, OHB and Sonic competitor RT, who seem a bit pricey at $7.50. Thursday we get our first real builder, LEN along with STZ and TXI. After the bell on Thursday we hear from APOL, CRI and SCHN with GBX and PSMT on Friday. AA officially kicks of earnings season next Monday with GAP, INFY, KBH, BGG, SCHW, SHFL, INTC and JPM highlighting the reporters.
We have plenty of data this week including Factory Orders and Pending Home Sales at 10 am along with December Auto Sales throughout the day (did you get a new car for Christmas?). Tomorrow is jobs day, with the ADP Report and Challenger Job Cuts ahead of the bell followed by ISM Services (yesterday’s ISM was a nice beat) and, of course, Crude Inventories at 10:30 which are unlikely to sustain $82 oil (USO Jan $40 puts for .80 are a good way to play this). We talked about the other stuff yesterday so I won’t repeat it – suffice to say we have plenty of data this week to see if we justify these lofty levels.
Everyone is talking…
Investor Plants WFC Short Straddle – Set to Bloom in April 2010
by Option Review - November 20th, 2009 4:24 pm
Today’s tickers: WFC, IYT, RYL, YHOO, XLE, MU, ADCT, KBH, DELL, NE & GPS
WFC – Wells Fargo & Co. – Shares of the financial holding company surrendered 1.5% today to stand at $27.88. One investor initiated a sold straddle on WFC in the April 2010 contract. The trader sold 10,000 calls at the April 32 strike for 1.59 apiece in conjunction with the sale of 10,000 now in-the-money puts at the same strike for 5.81 each. The gross premium on the transaction amounts to 7.40 per contract. The investor will retain the full premium if shares settle at $32.00 by expiration. The premium received acts as a buffer against losses in the event that shares swing in either direction away from the $32.00-level. However, the trader will accumulate losses if shares breach the upper breakeven price of $39.40, or if shares decline beneath the lower breakeven point at $24.60, by expiration in April.
IYT – iShares Dow Jones Transportation Average Index ETF – The exchange-traded fund, which measures the performance of the transportation sector of the U.S. equity market, appeared on our ‘hot by options volume’ market scanner this afternoon after one investor initiated a bearish put play. Shares of the fund moved 0.5% lower to $70.53 during the session. The trader established a put spread by purchasing 5,000 puts at the December 70 strike for 1.80 each, and by selling the same number of puts at the lower December 65 strike for 40 cents apiece. The net cost of the trade amounts to 1.40 per contract and provides downside protection beneath the breakeven price of $68.60 down to $65.00 through December’s expiration.
RYL – The Ryland Group, Inc. – Shares of homebuilder and mortgage-finance company, Ryland Group, declined nearly 4% this afternoon to stand at $18.86. Investors exchanging options on the stock today spread pessimistic sentiment through to expiration December. Traders sold 10,000 calls at the December 19 strike for an average premium of 1.10 apiece. The full 1.10 premium pocketed by investors is retained in full as long as shares of RYL remain below $19.00 through expiration day. Call-sellers do not seem to expect that shares of Ryland will recover before the start of 2010.
YHOO – Yahoo!, Inc. – We observed two different option strategies in play on Yahoo this afternoon. A large-volume sold strangle in the January 2011 contract suggests shares are likely to remain…
Which Way Wednesday – Fed Edition
by Phil - June 24th, 2009 7:53 am
No change from yesterday.
We’re going to be watching the same bounce levels as we were yesterday and that was 8,370 on the Dow, which was the level I predicted we’d test in the morning post and was the day’s high on the morning "rally" at 10:06, after which the Dow quickly dropped 80 points. Now, with the Dow finishing the day 16 points lower, we’re going to need an even bigger boost just to hit our test zone (50 points). Pre-markets are up about half of that but that’s a pretty poor response to the OECD raising China’s GDP forecast to 7.7% from 6.3% and also raised it’s global outlook for members to -4.1% from -4.3% and they expect a 0.7% increase in GDP in 2010.
Aside from the fact that -4.1% still sucks, keep in mind that the OECD is like the global Chamber of Commerce whose charter is: "To achieve the highest sustainable economic growth and employment and a rising standard of living in Member countries, while maintaining financial stability, and thus to contribute to the development of the world economy and to contribute to sound economic expansion in Member as well as nonmember countries in the process of economic development." In other words, this is like your local business council telling you it’s a great time to come downtown and enjoy the fine holiday shopping – not exactly a leading economic indicator. Is the OECD fiddling while the World burns or are they really onto something? We’ll get a better picture from the IMF, who give their mid-year forecast on July 7th as they actually wait for the half to end, rather than rushing out a statement to forestall a decaying trendline.
Even while I’m writing this (7:15) the futures are being jammed up like crazy and it looks like "THEY" don’t want to risk a real test and are going to try to get a gap open above our resistance points. Aside from Dow 8,370, we’ll be looking for S&P 900, Nasdaq 1,780, NYSE 5,800 and Russell 500. Failing those keeps us in a very serious downtrend and we still have to get past Durable Goods at 8:30, which are looking to be a bad number, probably down more than 1% from up 1.9% in April. Redbook Retal Sales for June are off 4.4% in the first 3 weeks, which doesn’t include Wal-Mart but…
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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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