Phil's Stock World, Stock Options Trading & Information

On Optrader’s section yesterday he was asked how he works with AAPL as an investment. He replied that he just ‘plays with the covers’. I’ve got a separate portfolio where I use primarily this technique over the past 6 months. Up 60% The principles involved are stock selection, patience, patience, using covers to protect profits, rolling covers to maximize premium return, and exiting when covers are gone and stock price is high. Sometimes it’s hard to remember where you learn to do this stuff, but much of it is from integrating principles I’ve learned here with thing I already knew. Thanks for the help on this, Phil and others.

- Roaster, Mar 7, 2010

Phil… My portfolio, in the past few months, has acheived a high degree of stabilization. I’ve noticed that on up days, down days, even days, it doesn’t matter, my portfolio rarely varies more than 2%. And over the long haul it just slowly increases in value. I attribute this not to investment choices, but to style. Thanks to you and others on this site I’m paying close attention to position size, delta neutrality, downside protection, and concentrating on selling premium rather than buying it. I’ve developed increasing patience, not having to trade daily, or even weekly. I’m concentrating on the finer points of trading, letting the profits come to me, rather than the other way around. I appreciate the help everyone here has given in getting me focused on this principle. I’m pumped!…in a calm sort of way.

- Iflantheman, Feb 16, 2010

I have been here a year, and made most of my money back from the 14K fall. The people here are more than willing to help whe Phil cannot get to it. FWIW - This site is my brokerage firm, I was with Wells Fargo Portfolio and it was costing a fortune to trade, the costs here are more than offset with the data, trade ideas and profits you should make.. and I get a chuckle out of Cap and Phil’s rantings on healtcare, guns, oh, yeah, and government….

- Pharmboy, Jul 16, 2009

Phil: Once again thanks for those inciteful comments, and the old links to Sage’s portfolio management (I hadn’t read before). I’m an experienced stock trader, but over the last 3 or 4 months have come to appreciate options trading here at PSW, and the consistency of your many premium-selling strategies. It is liberating to have to worry less about getting direction right and being able to generate 5% MONTHLY returns with close to delta-neutral positioning. Much appreciated!

- Neverworkagain , Jul 16, 2009

HOTT / Got great trades with it: Enter 6.75 at open, out at 7.18 (avg) at 10:13 Reentered at 7.00 and out all 7.11 few minutes ago- Was a small play but I collected enoght for next month PSW subscription.

- Spider, Jul 9, 2009

By the way thank you Phil for the DNDN idea. 3x till this morning and will 4x my small investment by next OE THANKS !!!!

- Microflux, Apr 15, 2009

thanks for the DNDN recommendation last week phil. that was moneeeee….

- Kwan, Apr 15, 2009

Thanks for the oil tip Phil: Bot & sold the USO May 29 calls for net $125. Not bad for few minutes work.

- JWick1981, Apr 7, 2009

Joined last year and and started profitably trading options thanks to everything I have learned here. THANK YOU!!

- OnWisconsin , Mar 8, 2009

Thanks for your thoughts against buying BP ahead of earnings (yesterdays’ member comments). It announced a loss of $3.3b and is down 3% in pre-market but still just above the bottom of the chaneel of $40-$50.

- mSquare, Feb 3, 2009

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Posts Tagged ‘stock’

IS THE STOCK MARKET 26% OVERVALUED?

by ilene - March 4th, 2010 7:24 pm

IS THE STOCK MARKET 26% OVERVALUED?

Courtesy of The Pragmatic Capitalist

The latest data from Robert Shiller’s 10 year PE ratio shows the market currently at a 20.64 multiple. In his morning note, David Rosenberg noted that this is 26% higher than the long-run average:

“If there was an impediment, in addition to a murky economic outlook, it is valuation. There were revisions to the Shiller valuation data and the latest reading on the normalized real P/E multiple is at 20.64x, up from the 20.0x in February and 20.5x in January. The long-run trend is at 16.36x, suggesting that the S&P is currently overvalued by 26%.”

pe1 IS THE STOCK MARKET 26% OVERVALUED?

This chart provides little of utility in and of itself, but combined with a longer-term look at stock prices it raises some interesting thoughts. As a student of and believer of mean reversion, I just can’t help but wonder if the recent recovery in stocks is nothing more than a brief respite in the long-term “chop” that has become a defining characteristic of equity prices over the last 10 years.

20100226 IS THE STOCK MARKET 26% OVERVALUED?

Source: Chartoftheday, Shiller Econ & Gluskin Sheff

Tags: Equities, stock, Stock Market, valuation

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

The Market Is Talking

by Chart School - February 18th, 2010 11:36 pm

The Market Is Talking

By David Grandey

All About Trends

Right now the market is talking to us. We hope you are listening because we are.

One look at the indexes show a lot of talking going on right now in the form of our indicators flashing "In the Zone" or at the least be aware. This is how the market talks to us.

First up the 20 day one-minute time frequency chart that covers the whole run off the recent lows.

These nano short term one minute charts all show the same thing:

A. Retest of the highs commonly referred to as resistance (red lines)

B. At trend channel resistance (pink lines)

Moving on to a larger time frame and frequency we see numerous things that make us super cautious on the longside.

In each of the above charts we see the same thing brewing in all of them.

A. RSI in overbought territory (red circles at the top of each chart)

B. Full Stochastics in over bought territory (red circles at the bottom of each chart)

C. All at trend channel resistance levels (Pink channels in OTC Comp. and Dow)

D. All are at key Fibonacci retracement levels

E. Lackluster volume on the way up in each index (not shown, but it’s there or not there shall we say)

F. In an ABC down with A is done, we are in B up (right into options expiration mind you) with a potential C down yet to rear its head.

G. Potential retests of recent highs that if they pull away from here it’s a double top at the least resistance right here.

In Summary Big Picture:

It’s options expiration. This means we could sit here for the rest of the week and chew around more. But we see too many indicators telling us that we are in a high risk zone on the longside. Those that have been here for awhile know what this all means all too well. If that’s the case then what is that saying about our Inverse ETF’s out there? Just the opposite of course.

To learn more, sign up for our free newsletter and receive our free report — "How To Outperform 90% Of Wall Street With Just $500 A Week."

Tags: charts, stock

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Why Amedisys (AMED) will hit $85

by ilene - February 7th, 2010 10:03 pm

Here’s PSW member Tuscadog’s detailed analysis of the company Amedisys (AMED). Tuscadog feels this is one of the few solid opportunities in the stock market, and he suggests a massive short squeeze may be coming due to AMED’s 53% short interest. - Ilene

Amedisys, Inc. provides home health and hospice services to the chronic, co-morbid, and aging American population. Its home health services include skilled nursing and home health aide services; physical, occupational, and speech therapy; and medically oriented social work to eligible individuals who require ongoing care. The company also offers clinically focused programs for chronic conditions and various diseases,… (Yahoo financial, more here.>>)

Why Amedisys (AMED) will hit $85

Courtesy of Tuscadog, member at PSW

Doctor standing outdoors with elderly patient

Feb 23rd may be ‘Judgment Day’ for the AMED short interest.

This is a long posting based on a lot of research and high level interviews I’ve conducted. I’m a private (long term) investor in Amed and I don’t appreciate the way Amed has been ‘jerked around’ by the hedge funds with false rumors and shorting, hence my willingness to share my analysis with small investors. These are my opinions based on my own extensive research, so invest at your own risk. For background on Amed pay particular attention to the 7 articles by Daryl Davis in the ‘Financial Blogs’ section of the Yahoo Finance page for Amed.

UPDATED GUIDANCE WILL BE A NIGHTMARE FOR SHORTS:

Amed will likely release 2009 EPS on Feb 23rd of around $4.90 to $5 and, more importantly, it will give guidance for 2010 based on the status quo on Medicare billing rates for 2010 (i.e. as already issued for 2010 by The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CMS). Based on the company’s growth rates and CMS’s announced approved rate increase for 2010 (which translates into a 1.8% net increase for 2010 after two flat pricing years) Amed will likely provide 2010 guidance in the $5.60 to $5.70 range. I believe actual results outcome will likely be higher, in the $5.70 to $5.90 range.

The 15 analysts who cover AMED are likely waiting for Amed’s guidance update and to see if there are any Health-Bill developments. The Suntrust upgrade Monday to a $70 target is using a pessimistic assumption of a revision to a retroactive 2.5% Medicare billing rate reduction for 2010. Currently, analysts eps forecasts for 2010 include varying degrees of Medicare price decreases, e.g. BB&T at $5.22, UBS at $5.26, Jeffries has a low forecast of $4.36…

How To Destroy Value

by ilene - November 11th, 2009 7:08 pm

How To Destroy Value

Courtesy of Eric J. Fox at The Market Prognosticator

It was reported today that Motorola (MOT) is shopping around its division that makes set top boxes and other equipment for cable and phone companies. The rumored asking price is around $4.5 billion.

That sounds great, but unfortunately for Motorola and its shareholders, the company paid $11 billion for it 10 years ago. Read how management gushed over it back then:

"This partnership will enable us to expand our portfolio for network access, delivering next-generation solutions along with ‘home hubs’ that will handle high-speed Internet access and video entertainment, as well as carrier-quality voice services," Motorola chief executive Christopher B. Galvin said. "People want access tailored their way and the ability to get online quickly and simply."

Some might say that Motorola didn’t really pay $11 billion since it issued its own stock to complete the purchase. This is nonsense of course.

Deals like this might be a contributing reason to explain why Motorola stock has been a disappointment to many investors.

Tags: MOT, Motorola, set top box division, stock

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Dave’s Daily

by Chart School - October 15th, 2009 9:27 pm

MARKET COMMENT

Dave Fry, October 15, 2009

DIP BUYING CONTINUES

Logic argues for a rest but Mr. Market’s not giving much ground. Some of this may have to do with options expiration tomorrow as those who can hunt down strike prices forcing exercise and hitting stops. Sure, it’s a mean game.

IBM posts good earnings while GOOG beats. So, you think over the last two hours of trading some folks got the memo? Just saying… In the meantime even horrible earnings from companies like Harley-Davidson (HOG) were bid higher following the dreamy “the worst is over” buy from WFC.

Volume is still unimpressive as many individual investors are watching but not playing despite all the cheerleading from the media…

There’s quite a mania going on in Emerging Markets and some commodity sectors. This is driving prices to extreme levels (parabolic) making mincemeat of rational judgment. It’s mostly driven by peer performance pressure, excess liquidity, and low yields; but, still only modest volume. Most investors are still feeling the bitter pain of losses and seem reluctant to take Wall Street’s bait.

More here.

An Anthropologist on What’s Wrong with Wall Street

by ilene - July 22nd, 2009 5:48 pm

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An Anthropologist on What’s Wrong with Wall Street

Courtesy of TIME, by Barbara Kiviat.

Anthropologist on What's Wrong with Wall St. In 1996, Karen Ho got a job on Wall Street. The student of anthropology, who would later go on to get her Ph.D., was fascinated by how even in the midst of an economic boom, corporate downsizings were rampant — and how each time a company announced a major layoff, its stock rallied. What she found from her perch at Bankers Trust — and later in interviews with people at firms such as Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Salomon Brothers, Kidder Peabody and Lazard — was that it wasn’t just an ideological commitment to boosting shareholder value that drove decisions to merge, break up and restructure companies, but also the work culture of Wall Street itself. Ho, now a professor at the University of Minnesota, talked with Barbara Kiviat about her findings, presented in Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street, and how she thinks the recent financial collapse has — or hasn’t — changed things.

What do you mean when you say the American worker has become liquid?
I mean that there’s constant job insecurity, constant downsizing, constant restructuring, a constant need to retrain to have an adaptable skill set and be flexible. In a sense, job security and stability have been liquidated.

And that comes from Wall Street?
What I found in my research was that in many ways investment bankers and how they approach work became a model for how work should be conducted. Wall Street shapes not just the stock market but also the very nature of employment and what kinds of workers are valued. These firms sit at the nexus — they are the financial advisers and sources of expertise to major U.S. corporations and institutional investors — and from this highly empowered middle-man role, what they say has a lot of influence. The model that came to be dominant in the 1980s was one of constant change. The idea is that there’s a lot of dead wood out there and people should be constantly moving, in lockstep with the market. If a company isn’t constantly restructuring and changing, then it’s stagnant and inefficient, a big lumbering brick.

And you think that attitude follows from the way Wall Street works?
What a lot of folks don’t realize is there are tons of layoffs on Wall…

Tags: American worker, anthropology, corporate America, economic boom, lay offs, Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street, Recession, stock, Wall Street

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Investing Education Advice if You’re New to Options Trading

by Phil - July 3rd, 2009 3:17 pm

Investor Education By Travis W of PursuingWealth.com

Finding investing education advice for stock options trading can be a frustrating endeavor at times. New traders often share with me that it feels like the options trading community is a very tight-lipped community with a high price of admission. I’ve been through that process so I’d like to offer you some advice.

Learning to invest your own money is a journey, not a destination. It takes time, patience, and education. It’s a proactive journey for those who no longer desire to be a victim of the so called experts.

Over the years I’ve made enough mistakes and have had enough successes to know that the ability to master your money is not something that just happens. It takes a bit of work on your part.

Increasing your investment IQ is a key part, especially when you’re dealing with stock options. You have to find a qualified and trustworthy source for investing education. There’s quite a bit of hype out there so you have to filter out all the "noise".

You may have already searched online for information on stock options, or read a few books. Most people are drawn to options trading by the potential to create large sums of money in a short period of time. Here is my forewarning; having a great deal of head knowledge about stock options doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be a great trader. It’s going to take some real world practice.

Most of what I’ve learned about investing did not come from a classroom or a book; it came from real world experiences. I found people who were willing to give me unbiased investing education and I applied the knowledge through practice and a bit of trial and error.

Investing Education is your Financial Road Map

Investing education has a purpose in our lives like a map has a purpose to a traveler. A map can take you from point "A" to point "B" when you’re traveling. Investing education can take you from school loans, credit card debt, and no budget to debt-free with money to burn. It’s your financial map so to speak.

You could try to figure out options trading on your own, but if you’re smart and value your time you’ll find a map that can get you to your destination quicker. It’s extremely rare for me to meet someone who doesn’t want to provide additional income for their family, position themselves to retire early,…

Tags: Education, Hedging, Options, stock

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GM: The Deep, Dark Shadows of Bankruptcy

by ilene - May 18th, 2009 12:15 am

Update on GM, courtesy of TIME

GM: The Deep, Dark Shadows of Bankruptcy

By Joseph R. Szcsesny

A GM dealership in Los Angeles

Mark Ralston / AFP / Getty

General Motors appears to be on a fast road to bankruptcy. Chief executive officer Fritz Henderson has already described a bankruptcy filing as "probable" as the U.S. Treasury’s June 1 deadline for reorganizing the company draws near. Also, the fact that GM announced it was moving up its date for paying suppliers from June 2 to May 28 further suggests bankruptcy is likely, says Brad Coulter of O’Keefe & Associates of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., which specializes in helping distressed manufacturing companies. "To me, it’s a pretty clear indicator that they plan to file right around the June 1 deadline." At the same time, half a dozen senior GM executives have dumped shares, even though the stock has been trading for less than $2.

Meanwhile, the work necessary for averting a GM bankruptcy remains undone. Though the automaker is reportedly making progress on negotiations with the United Auto Workers (UAW), open issues remain, and the GM even got into a public spat with the UAW over importing cars from China and Mexico. The union is now demanding more assurances as to what cars GM plans to build in the U.S. in the future. (See portraits of autoworkers.)

On a more positive note, the two sides have reportedly reached agreement on how to finance the Voluntary Employees’ Beneficiary Association (VEBA), which was set up to fund retiree health-care benefits for GM’s blue-collar workforce. GM is said to be agreeing to deposit half the $20 billion it owes the VEBA and to fund the other half with GM stock. The agreement appears to be very similar to the deal Chrysler LLC reached with the UAW. That deal puts the UAW in control of the new Chrysler, with 55% of the stock. The union has also reportedly agreed to cut labor costs, though neither the union nor GM would confirm the figures.

As part of the overall restructuring plan put forward by the company, 16 manufacturing facilities in the U.S. will be closed, including four assembly plants, according to Alan Reuther, director of the UAW’s Washington office.

In a related move, GM announced on Friday that 500 dealers who handle Hummer, Saab and Saturn brands would be moved outside of GM’s dealer network or terminated if a buyer for those nameplates cannot be found. Also…

Tags: Bankruptcy, bonds, dealers, GM, stock

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Phil's Favorites

Jon Stewart on financial market reform

March 19th, 2010 12:20 am

Jon Stewart on financial market reform

Courtesy of Tim Iacono at The Mess That Greenspan Made

This seems to be showing up everywhere and, if you haven't already seen it, it's well worth ten minutes of your time if you're in need of a good chuckle.

Quite a contrast with that last item... Is there a way to invest in Jonco International?

...

more from Ilene

Zero Hedge

RANsquawk 19th March Morning Briefing - Stocks, Bonds, FX etc.

March 19th, 2010 5:32 am

Courtesy of RANSquawk Video

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more from Tyler

Chart School

What Do I Need To See To Make Me Take A Trade

March 19th, 2010 12:46 am

What Do I Need To See To Make Me Take A Trade

Courtesy of David Grandey All About Trends www.allabouttrends.net The only pattern you'll ever need to know in uptrending markets is commonly referred to as a Pullback Off Highs (POH). And sure enough with the recent vertical leap to nosebleed levels we've seen in the indexes a bunch of names took off out like rockets. All of those same names got away from those low risk entry points very fast leaving any trades taken now being of higher risk entries due to being away from those prime entry points that we use to manage risk from a technical perspective. Each of them, and many other stocks, are extended and away from any low risk entry point. Buying them here would surely be of the dog chasing the bus variety types of trades at this point in time. The big question then becomes so where does tha... more from Chart School

Trading Goddess

Pivotfarm Support and Resistance Levels 19th March 2010

March 18th, 2010 11:50pm

Pivotfarm.com provides Support & Resistance, Fibonacci, Volume Analysis, Market Profile, Moving Average and Pivot Information for day traders. These data sheets are designed to help day traders gain an edge in the market, providing all the most important information a trader needs in one clear and concise data sheet.
Today's levels can be found by clicking here

You can now have the Support and Resistance levels emailed to you via our Newsletter every morning please sign up at pivotfarm.com

All information on this website is for educational purposes only and is not intended to provide financial advise. Any sta...

Oxen Group Trades

The Oxen Report: Jobless Claims Drop Only Slightly and Miss Estimates, Will It Weigh on Market?

March 18th, 2010 9:34 am

Yesterday, we got into an Overnight Trade of the Day in New York & Co. (NWY) at 4.34. We a...

The Options Report

By Andrew Wilkinson

Citi-Bull Sheds Just Under a Quarter Million Put Options

March 18th, 2010 4:21 pm

Today’s tickers: C, ERTS, ATVI, DNDN, HIG, DD, RCL, SFD & AMR

C - Citigroup, Inc. – One investor established a mammoth bullish stance on Citigroup in the first 20 minutes of the current trading session. Citigroup’s shares at the time of the transaction were trading at approximately $4.05, but have since slipped lower and are down 0.50% to $4.03 as of 2:45 pm (ET). It looks like the Citi-bull sold 240,000 put options outright at the April $4.0 strike to take in a premium of $0.16 per contract. Premium received on the sale, which represents maximum potential profits, amounts to $3.840 million to the investor if Citigroup’s shares trade above $4.00 through expiration day. The short stance in put options implies the investor is willing to have 24 million shares of the underlying stock put to him at an effective price...

Insider Zone

Insiders: March to Exit

March 15th, 2010 6:49 pm

By Ilene

Let's take a look at Insider Buying and Selling over the last week or so. These are screen shots from Finviz - the significant buys against a green background first and significant sells against the pink background second. All the buys fit into my screen shot but the sells did not. Click here to see all the sells.

Note that the largest buy in the group, for KITD was at a price of 9.73 (KITD is currently at 11.54). The buy was part of an Equity Offering rather than an open market purchase. Tuzman Kaleil Isaza's (KITD's Chairman and Chief Exec. Officer) history of buys is http://www.insidercow.com/ more from Insider

OpTrader

Swing trading portfolio - week of March 15th 2010

March 15th, 2010 8:55 am

This post is for live trades and daily comments.

To learn more about the swing trading portfolio (strategy, membership etc.), please click here

- Optrader

...

more from OpTrader

March 2010
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« Feb	«-»
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
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As Seen On:

About Phil:

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...

Learn more About Phil >>

About Ilene:

Ilene is editor and affiliate program coordinator for PSW. She manages the Favorites backup site (blogroll, archives, more). Contact Ilene to learn about our affiliate and content sharing programs.

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FeedTheBull - Top Stock market and Finance Sites

Note: The material presented in this commentary is provided for informational purposes only and is based upon information that is considered to be reliable. However, neither Philstockworld, LLC (PSW) nor its affiliates warrant its completeness, accuracy or adequacy and it should not be relied upon as such. Neither PSW nor its affiliates are responsible for any errors or omissions or for results obtained from the use of this information. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Neither Phil, Optrader or anyone related to PSW is a registered financial adviser and they may hold positions in the stocks mentioned, which may change at any time without notice. Do not buy or sell based on anything that is written here, the risk of loss in trading is great.

This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities or other financial instruments mentioned in this material are not suitable for all investors. Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are subject to change without notice, and are only intended at the moment of their issue as conditions quickly change. The information contained herein does not constitute advice on the tax consequences of making any particular investment decision. This material does not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situations or needs and is not intended as a recommendation to you of any particular securities, financial instruments or strategies. Before investing, you should consider whether it is suitable for your particular circumstances and, as necessary, seek professional advice.

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