JPMorgan-Bull Constructs Three-Legged Combo Play as Shares Rise
by Option Review - January 5th, 2010 4:31 pm
Today’s tickers: JPM, LVS, S, WFC, UAUA, NBR, PTEN, FIG, PCS, DAL & TPX
JPM – JPMorgan Chase & Co. – A three-legged combination play suggests one investor anticipates a significant rally in JPMorgan’s shares within the next few months. The stock is trading 2% higher this afternoon to $43.65. The trader utilized both calls and puts in the March contract in order to position for potential bullish movement in shares of the underlying. The investor sold 15,000 puts at the March 40 strike for an average premium of 1.18 apiece to partially offset the cost of buying a call spread. The call spread involved the purchase of 15,000 calls at the now in-the-money March 43 strike for an average premium of 2.58 each, marked against the sale of 15,000 calls at the higher March 47 strike for 90 cents premium apiece. The net cost of the three-legged strategy amounts to 90 cents per contract. Maximum potential profits of 3.50 per contract – a grand total of $5.25 million – are available to the investor if JPM’s shares rally through $47.00 by expiration day. Profits amass above the breakeven price of $43.50. The short put stance at the March 40 strike implies the investor is willing to have shares put to him at $40.00 apiece if the put options land in-the-money.
LVS – Las Vegas Sands Corp. – Reports of a large 48% increase in December revenue at Sands China – the Macau unit of Las Vegas Sands Corp. – pushed shares of LVS up 9.5% to $18.21 today. Option bulls, hoping good fortune and accurate foresight are on their side looked to the February contract to initiate plain-vanilla call buying strategies. The now in-the-money February 18 strike had roughly 2,700 calls picked up for an average premium of 1.29 apiece. The higher February 19 strike was the hot spot for bulls looking to bet on an LVS rally. Out of the 19,500 calls traded at that strike, more than 12,200 contracts were purchased for about one dollar per contract. Call options exchanged at the February 19 strike vastly outnumber previously existing open interest at that strike of just 2,725 lots. The higher February 20 strike received bullish interest as well, with about 2,000 contracts coveted by traders for an average premium of 66 cents each. As of 3:15 pm (EDT), investors traded just under 127,000 option contracts of LVS,…
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DiggAll-Time High for Amazon has Option Traders Raising the Bar
by Phil - October 27th, 2009 6:17 am
Today’s tickers: AMZN, MU, ETH, AMR, WYN, TBT, BAC, PCS, DE, ING, RSH & BCRX
AMZN – Amazon.com, Inc. – Shares of the online retailer surged to an all-time high of $125.44 during the trading session. Investors exchanged approximately 241,000 option contracts on AMZN by 3:00 pm (EDT), which represents about 41% of the total existing open interest on the stock of 591,993 lots. Bullish investors expecting Amazon to rally even higher purchased 7,000 calls at the November 135 strike for an average premium of 1.84 apiece. Optimism spread to the higher November 140 strike where 2,800 calls were picked up for 1.05 each. Super bullish traders looked to the highest available strike price in the front month – the November 150 strike – to purchase 1,000 calls for an average premium of 31 cents per contract. Shares of Amazon.com rallied 36% to reach today’s intraday high of $125.44, climbing up from an intra-week low of $91.98 on Thursday October 22, 2009. Investors holding calls at the November 135 strike will profit by expiration if shares of AMZN gain 9% over the high of $125.44 to breach the breakeven price of $136.84. Finally, near-term put options were also in demand by investors looking to lock in gains enjoyed during Amazon’s recent run-up. Traders shelled out an average of 6.92 per contract to buy 3,100 puts at the November 125 strike.
MU – Micron Technology, Inc. – Option traders invested in April contract call options on the semiconductor manufacturer despite the 0.5% decline in shares to $7.41. It appears some 9,200 calls were purchased by MU-optimists at the April 8.0 strike for an average premium of 1.08 per contract. Call-buyers apparently expect shares to rally significantly within the next six months. Investors holding the call options will profit by expiration if shares of MU rally at least 22.5% to the breakeven point at $9.08.
ETH – Ethan Allen Interiors, Inc. – Home-furnishings retailer, Ethan Allen, experienced a more than 14% decline in shares today to $14.30 after the firm forecast a wider-than-expected loss of 21-23 cents for the first quarter. Analysts predicted an 8 cents per share loss before the firm lowered guidance last week. Long-term downside protection is in demand as traders picked up some 5,500 puts at the May 12.5 strike for an average premium of 1.76 apiece. Investors holding long positions in the underlying stock will find protection…
Mixed Bag for Airline Share Prices Keeps Option Traders Active
by Option Review - September 21st, 2009 5:08 pm
Today’s tickers: DAL, LCC, PCS & XHB
DAL - Unconfirmed reports today stated that DAL will likely announce plans to sell $500 to $750 million of five-year, senior secured notes that may price to yield approximately 10%. Shares of DAL reacted by gaining more than 4% during today’s session to $9.34. Bullishness was observed on the stock through call transactions this morning. It appears one trader, who originally purchased 6,500 calls at the December 9.0 strike for 40 cents apiece back on August 20, 2009, sold the chunk of calls today for a much richer premium of 1.35 per contract. The investor received a net profit of 95 cents per contract by selling to close the call position. Expecting further near-term gains in DAL, the trader spread the closing sale of the original calls against the purchase of 13,000 fresh calls at the October 10 strike for 42 cents each. Profit from the original bullish stance on Delta Air Lines was sufficient to double up the size of the long call position to prepare for further upside gains by expiration in October. – Delta Air Lines, Inc. –
LCC - In contrast to the bullish options activity observed on Delta Air Lines this morning, it appears investors employed calls on LCC to display bearish sentiment. Shares of US Airways have improved more than 2% to arrive at the current price of $5.09. It seems some traders doubt the airline will rally through $6.00 by expiration in October because some 10,200 calls were sold short at the October 6.0 strike for an average premium of 18 cents per contract. Call-sellers are apparently willing to bear the risk that shares rise through $6.18 – the breakeven point at which losses begin to amass – in order to receive 18 cents premium today. Shares of LCC would need to rally 21% to $6.18 before investors short the calls are exposed to potentially unlimited losses to the upside. Investors keep the full 18 cent premium if shares remain beneath $6.00 and the call options expire worthless by expiration. – US Airways Group, Inc. –
PCS - As global confidence returns investors are finding it hard to resist promising stories especially those that offer potential for meteoric share price gains. FT’s Alphaville is running an apparently well-heeled story who says that Germany’s Deutsche Telekom has got over the incompatibility fears of buying a U.S. mobile carrier. Since…
MetroPCS Options Calendar Spread at Play as Shares Rally
by Option Review - July 7th, 2009 5:33 pm
Today’s tickers: PCS, EEM, GIGM, AIG, DFS, GE, PBR & HGSI
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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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