Short-Term Bullish Bets Mount As Las Vegas Sands Extends Rally
by Option Review - January 25th, 2012 2:18 pm
Today’s tickers: LVS, S & PG
LVS - Las Vegas Sands Corp. – Weekly call options on the casino operator continue to see heavy action as shares in Las Vegas Sands extend their sharp run to the upside. The stock is up more than 12.0% year-to-date and some options traders are positioning for the momentum to continue, abandoning concerns that slowing growth in China may curtail activity in Macao. Optimism the Chinese New Year will boost revenues in the Asian gambling hub is also helping the stock’s fast-and-furious drive toward the February 3, 2011, 52-week high of $50.65. Shares are currently up 2.9% on the day to arrive at $49.31 as of 1:30 p.m. in New York. Traders exchanged more than 3,200 now in-the-money calls at the Jan. ’27 $49 strike, with much of the volume generated by buyers shelling out an average premium of $0.43 per contract. Investors long the $49 strike calls may walk away with profits at week’s end as long as shares in LVS exceed the average breakeven price of $49.43. Bullish positioning spread to the higher Jan. ’27 $50 strike where more than 1,300 calls were purchased at an average premium of $0.17 apiece. Weekly call buyers profit if shares in the owner of casino resorts extend gains heading into the weekend, but are not exposed to the reaction of shares following Las Vegas Sands Corp.’s earnings release next Thursday.
S - Sprint Nextel Corp. – Big prints in Sprint puts made the wireless communications company one of the most active names by options volume today. Shares in the wireless provider are down 1.4% at $2.14 in early-afternoon trade, hovering just four pennies above the October 10, 2011, multi-year low of $2.10. Options volume on Sprint Nextel…
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DiggIntel Bulls Eye Fresh Highs In Chip Maker’s Shares Come Springtime
by Option Review - November 30th, 2011 1:24 pm
Today’s tickers: INTC, S & ACN
INTC - Intel Corp. – A spate of buying activity in Intel Corp. call options this morning suggests some options strategists are positioning for substantial bullish movement in the price of the underlying over the next four to five months. Shares in Intel are certainly heading higher today, with the stock currently up 5.5% to stand at $24.86 as of 12:10 PM in New York. Fresh prints in March 2012 contract calls indicate investors may profit if Intel’s shares rally to their highest level in at least five years. Traders taking a bullish stance on the chip maker picked up more than 4,200 calls at the Mar. 2012 $28 strike for an average premium of $0.43 each. Like-minded optimists paid an average premium of $0.28 per contract to purchase roughly 9,100 calls at the higher Mar. 2012 $29 strike, as well. Investors long the call options may profit at March expiration in the event that Intel’s shares surge 14.4% and 17.8% to surpass the average breakeven prices of $28.43 and $29.28, respectively. Looking out to options expiring in April 2012, it appears some 8,800 calls changed hands at the $29 strike against open interest of 2,037 contracts. Investors purchased most of these contracts for an average premium of $0.45 a-pop. Finally, short-term bulls are dabbling in Intel Corp. weekly calls. It looks like investors that got in ahead of the week’s rally are taking profits off the table today. Open interest patterns in the Dec. ’02 $24 strike suggest traders purchased around 3,500 of the calls for an average premium of $0.10 each one day prior to Thanksgiving. This morning these calls were sold roughly 3,500 times for an average premium of $0.64 each, or approximate one-week gains of 540%.
S - Sprint Nextel Corp. – Shares in the wireless carrier joined in on the broad market rally today, rising 3.6% to $2.59 in early-afternoon trade. However, a large transaction in weekly puts on the stock indicates one strategist is prepared should the music stop. It looks like the investor purchased around 27,000 puts at the Dec. ’02 $2.5 strike for a premium of $0.07 apiece. The trader may profit at expiration this week if shares in Sprint Nextel Corp. drop 6.2% from the current price of $2.59 to breach the effective breakeven point at $2.43. Immediate-term bearish options activity in the weekly puts contrasts with a much…
Call Buying On Sprint Amid Session Lows Well-Played As Shares Rebound
by Option Review - October 4th, 2011 2:09 pm
Today’s tickers: S, GS, RIMM & CCL
S - Sprint Nextel Corp. – Seemingly well-timed call buying on Sprint in the first hour of the trading session has seen the value of options held by one or more bullish investors appreciate intraday. Shares in Sprint Nextel Corp. fell as much as 17.6% this morning to touch down at a new 52-week low of $2.25, but have since fought their way back to rally 2.2% to $2.79 just after 12:35 pm EDT. The stock tumbled this week on news the third-largest U.S. wireless carrier is committed to buying at least 30.5 million iPhones over the next four years, a deal estimated to cost around $20 billion, as reported in today’s Wall Street Journal. Concerns regarding the terms of the deal were reflected in the steep selloff that ensued in Sprint shares. But, activity in Jan. 2012 contract call options this morning suggests some traders were ready to position for a rebound in the battered stock. It looks like investors purchased around 18,400 calls at the Jan. 2012 $2.5 strike for an average premium of $0.57 apiece, against previously existing open interest of 9,650 contracts. The calls that had earlier cost an average of $0.57 to purchase now require $0.76 per contract roughly two hours later. Premium on the calls should continue to rise should Sprint’s shares extend their recovery in the months remaining to January 2012 expiration. Options traders populating Sprint Nextel Corp. are trading roughly three calls on the wireless provider to each single put in action. Options implied volatility is up 30.3% to arrive at 119.8% this afternoon.
GS - The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. – Shares in Goldman Sachs are well off their lows of the session, having earlier dropped as much as 6.45% to a 31-month low of $84.27. The stock remains firmly in the red, however, down 2.1% at $88.18 as of 11:30 am in New York. Not surprisingly, options on financial stocks and the XLF are some of the most active…
Call Spreader Eyes Near-Term Turn-Around In Valeant
by Option Review - August 5th, 2011 3:15 pm
Today’s tickers: VRX, DISH, GE & S
VRX - Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Inc. – Shares in Canada’s largest drug maker have lost roughly one-third of their value in just over one week’s time, and it looks like one options player is prepared to see the stock recover somewhat in the next couple of weeks. Valeant’s shares currently trade 6.15% lower on the session at $38.34. The stock fell sharply on Thursday after the company reported lower-than-expected profits for the second quarter. Massive prints in August contract call options point to one player’s optimism for a speedy, albeit limited, rebound in the price of the underlying by expiration this month. It looks like the investor initiated a bull call spread, buying 25,000 now in-the-money calls at the August $38 strike for a premium of $1.75 each, and selling the same number of calls up at the August $43 strike at a premium of $0.45 apiece. The net cost of the trade amounts to $1.30 per contract, thus preparing the options strategist to profit should shares in Valeant increase 2.5% over the current price of $38.34 to surpass the effective breakeven point on the spread at $39.30 by expiration day. Maximum potential profits of $3.70 per contract pad the investor’s wallet if shares in the drug maker gain 12.2% to trade above $43.00 by expiration in two weeks. Options implied volatility on the pharmaceuticals company stands 25.6% higher this afternoon at 67.51% as of 1:40 pm on the East Coast.
DISH - DISH Network Corp. – The sharp pullback in shares of DISH Network today appears to have paid off handsomely for one strategist holding put options on the stock. It looks like the investor more than doubled his money in the past 48 hours by selling puts originally purchased on Wednesday. Shares in…
Wild Weekly Wrap-Up (Part 1) – Our Billion Dollar Oil Shorts!
by Phil - June 11th, 2011 6:08 am
That’s how much money our oil futures trade ideas generated over the past two weeks and I certainly hope everyone got a piece of theirs but, out of curiosity, how did our other trade ideas do in this terrible market? We track our virtual portfolios but we have many trade ideas during members chat on both sides of the fence so let’s take some time to review what worked and what didn’t work as the Dow dropped 500 points since the holiday.
Keep in mind this is just virtual performance and I’ll do my best to not miss anything and I’m going to include the Friday before the holiday weekend so we can review what our mind-set was as we set ourselves up for the long weekend as well as how we handled the moves since in both our daily posts and our Member Chat. I’m not going to narrate each day, that’s what Stock World Weekly is for – I’ll just make quick comments on the trades when appropriate. Keep in mind, with all options trading, once you make a quick 20%, you should be looking for the exits (see our Strategy Section) by setting stops (and we also stop out with a 20% loss of course) – we are just lucky when we happen to do better.
TGIF – Dollar Done Diving or Destined to Drop?
In the main post (main post trade ideas can be read daily by Report Members or higher – the rest are in our Private Member Chat), I discussed shorting oil futures off our $101.90 (at the time) target. We didn’t like waiting for $102 because sometimes it failed. Oil finished at $99 this week but was as low as $97.24 as we put pressure on the NYMEX pump crew by accepting their bogus offers to buy oil over $101 per barrel. This post was the first one where I decided to go public with what we were doing, hoping to break the back of the market manipulators at the NYMEX by letting as many people as possible in on the trade. This is also where I laid out our bearish fundamental case for oil so good for review. My comment in the morning post was:
As I mentioned yesterday, this week’s action is
…
Bulls Prep for Continued Run-Up in Sprint
by Option Review - May 24th, 2011 4:03 pm
Today’s tickers: S, SMH, AEM & XRT
S - Sprint Nextel Corp. – Shares in the third-largest U.S. mobile provider hit a new 2-year high today, rising as much as 5.9% earlier in the session to $5.90. The communications company’s share price took a big hit after AT&T and T-Mobile announced plans to merge back in March, but the stock has sky-rocketed in the two months since then, gaining 41.5% off its post-deal announcement low of $4.17. Perhaps shares were helped higher on news Leap Wireless International joined “team Sprint” in opposing the $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile by AT&T. Shares in Sprint Nextel Corp. may also be higher ahead of the Thursday release of Google’s mobile-payment service, which will operate on Sprint’s phones. Investors positioning for the uptrend to continue over the long term initiated bullish plays in the November contract. It looks like traders are employing ratio call spreads, buying roughly 2,500 calls at the November $7.0 strike for an average premium of $0.31 each, and selling around 5,000 calls up at the higher November $8.0 strike at an average premium of $0.14 apiece. Net premium required on average to establish the trade amounts to just $0.03 per contract. Ratio call spreaders stand prepared to make money in the event that Sprint’s shares surge 19.2% over today’s high of $5.90 to surpass the average breakeven price of $7.03 by expiration day in November. Maximum potential profits of $0.97 per contract are available on the transaction should the price of the underlying stock jump 35.6% to settle at $8.00 at expiration. Sprint Nextel Corp. shares last traded above $7.03 back in September 2008. The sale of twice as many of the higher-strike calls substantially lowered the price at which call spreaders break even, but also ups the amount of risk undertaken on the position. The uncovered short calls may result in losses in the event that shares spike above the upper breakeven price of $8.97 at expiration in November. Options implied volatility…
Netgear Options Pop as Shares Fly to All-Time High
by Option Review - April 29th, 2011 4:09 pm
Today’s tickers: NTGR, GT, DOW & S
NTGR - Netgear, Inc. – The maker of networking products for at-home and small business use reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings on Thursday after the closing bell, and projected second-quarter sales of $270 million, which beat the consensus estimate of $240.3 million. Shares in the San Jose, CA-based company subsequently jumped 28.4% today to secure an intraday- and new all-time high of $43.67. Investors expecting the price of the underlying to trend higher through the next couple of months traded more than 2,800 calls at the June $45 strike on just 10 lots of previously existing open interest. The majority of the call options were purchased for an average premium of $1.35 each. Call buyers make money if shares in Netgear rally another 6.1% over today’s high of $43.67 to surpass the average breakeven price of $46.35 by expiration day in June. Meanwhile, pre-earnings report buyers of May contract call options have seen the value of their positions sky-rocket today. One trader appears to be taking profits, selling 50 now deep in-the-money calls at the May $31 strike for an average premium of $10.38 each, which he appears to have initially purchased for just $3.60 apiece on Thursday. Open interest levels at the two highest-available strike prices in the front month indicate call buyers paid as much as $0.35 per contract to buy fewer than 100 calls at each of the May $37 and $38 strikes earlier in the week. Today, these same calls tout asking prices of $4.60 and $3.80, respectively. Approximately 4,200 call and put options have changed hands on Netgear just before 1:00pm on overall previously existing open interest of 5,678 contracts on the stock.
GT - Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. – Shares in the largest U.S. tire manufacturer shot up…
Caterpillar Call Options Active Ahead of Earnings
by Option Review - April 26th, 2011 4:24 pm
Today’s tickers: CAT, CLX, S & ELX
CAT - Caterpillar, Inc. – Signs of bullish sentiment on the machinery maker appeared in the options market this morning with the price of Caterpillar’s shares rising as much as 3.1% to an intraday high of $112.20. Strong earnings from a number of big industrials-names this week helped CAT’s shares higher in the face of the company’s own first-quarter earnings report ahead of the opening bell on Friday. In weekly options on the stock, the April ’29 $105 strike put options are most active. Two-way trading in the puts suggests mixed sentiment in the days leading up to CAT’s earnings. Buyers of the puts may be wary of an earnings miss, while sellers of the contracts seem to be saying they at least expect shares in the name to remain above $105.00 through expiration on Friday. Meanwhile, the May contract is a-buzz with activity as well. Call options are more heavily populated than puts in early-afternoon trade. Bullish players positioning for the price of the underlying stock to continue to climb ahead of expiration day next month bought calls and sold puts. Volume is heaviest in the May $115 strike calls, where around 6,300 contracts have changed hands, fewer contracts than the 11,355 lots of previously existing open interest at that strike. Buyers of the options are dominating, paying an average premium of $1.60 per contract for the right to buy the underlying stock at $115.00. Investors long the May $115 strike calls profit at expiration if shares in CAT rally another 3.9% over the current price of $112.20 to exceed the average breakeven point on the upside at $116.60. More than 1,100 call options were picked up at each of the May $120 and $125 strikes at average premiums of $0.52 and $0.17, respectively. Caterpillar’s shares recently hit an all-time high of $113.93 on April 4, 2011. Options players traded more than 55,000 contracts on the machinery manufacturer by 1:20pm in New York.…
Options Strategists Rig Up Bearish Plays On Transocean
by Option Review - March 25th, 2011 4:05 pm
Today’s tickers: RIG, S, EK & TDC
RIG - Transocean Ltd. – Activity in near-term put options on the provider of offshore drilling services suggests some investors expect shares in Transocean to head further South in the next few weeks. RIG’s shares are currently down 2.00% to stand at $78.67 in early-afternoon trade. The stock is down 8.5% off its 11-month high of $85.98 set on March 3, 2011. Investors piled into put options in the front month, scooping up the contracts at deep out-of-the-money strike prices as low as the April $65 strike. Bearish players purchased around 1,400 of the April $80 strike put options at an average premium of $3.11 each. Put buying spread to the lower April $75 strike, the most heavily trafficked strike thus far in the session, to secure 2,800 puts for an average premium of $1.26 a-pop. More than 4,000 puts changed hands at the April $70 strike on paltry previously existing open interest of just 162 contracts. It looks like the majority of the contracts were purchased at an average premium of $0.41 each. Finally, two-way traffic drove volume at the April $65 strike price up to 2,860 contracts this afternoon. Overall options volume on RIG has topped 33,000 contracts as of 1:35pm on the final trading day of the week.
S - Sprint Nextel Corp. – A massive stock and options combination play on Sprint Nextel Corp. today appears to be the work of an investor looking for shares in the communications company to shift higher ahead of May expiration. Shares in Sprint are continuing to improve today, up 2.2% at $4.66 as of 12:35pm in New York. The stock took a beating earlier this week after AT&T announced plans to merge with T-Mobile, but has since been on the mend. We observed…
Mega-Merger Monday – T Can Be “Heard Now” by 40%
by Phil - March 21st, 2011 7:47 am
Didn’t we break these guys up?
Oh anti-trust, anti-trust, wherefore art thou anti-trust? Don’t get me wrong, I love T as an investment, we just made a play on them last week with their big, fat, 6% dividend. Now they are using debt to finance a $39Bn purchase of DT’s T-Mobile division as the German-based company is sick and tired of getting paid in worthless dollars, which add nothing to their Euro-based earnings. Although one may think regulators would actually wake up and say "Huh?" to this deal – AT&T was confident enough to put up a $3Bn breakup fee and you don’t do something like that unless you’ve already spent $300M buying all the votes you need ahead of time.
"AT&T anticipates regulators will require it to divest wireless spectrum and subscribers as a condition for approval," said a person with knowledge of the situation. These things are all worked out long before they are announced but let’s hear it from the little guy anyway: "The combination of the second-largest wireless carrier with the fourth-largest is ‘unthinkable’,” Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, a Washington-based advocacy group, said in a statement. “We know the results of arrangements like this — higher prices, fewer choices, less innovation.” Isn’t he cute?
In addition to surpassing Verizon Wireless, AT&T could leave Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) as a far weaker No. 3 player in the industry, said Rebecca Arbogast, an analyst for Stifel Nicolaus & Co. in Washington. “AT&T was broken up and now it’s back with a vengeance,” said Bert Foer, president of the American Antitrust Institute, a Washington-based non-profit researcher that challenges what it sees as abuses of concentrated economic power. “We have to decide if we’re happy with the idea of going back to monopolistic treatment of the telecom industry. AT&T has come back to monopolistic power just like the Terminator.”
Is T calling a bottom to the dollar? Probably. You don’t spend $39Bn to buy a 40% market share in a country with declining revenues. T is also calling a bottom to lending rates and probably making a bet on inflation as well – all in all, pretty much exactly what we’re playing the market for so, from a T shareholder perspective – I love this acquisition. Nothing makes money like a monopoly (just ask Carlos Slim) and, as Steve Colbert illustrates above, AT&T has…
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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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