Turning Trade Ideas into Profits – Early Earnings Results

Between our Morning Reports (Report Membership), Top Trades (Top Trade Alerts) and our Live Member Chat Room (Premium Membership), PhilStockWorld has trade ideas for our Members almost every day. 

Earnings reports are like a report card for us and here are a few examples of how some recent trades are working out:  

1. Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF)

• • Origination & Post: Highlighted by Phil Davis in his October 13th Long-Term Portfolio (LTP) Review and again detailed in “Monday Market Movement – Focusing on VALUE into Earnings Season” (October 19, 2026).
  • The Thesis: A cash-generating domestic steel giant protected by 50% tariff walls and expanding into strategic national-security minerals, positioning it as a fundamental anchor while trading at a deep cyclical discount.
  • Q3 Earnings & Stock Move: On October 19, 2026, CLF reported Q3 non-GAAP EPS of $0.28 (+162% YoY) and adjusted EBITDA of $612 million—more than double Q2’s $286 million. Management guided Q4 EBITDA to ~$715 million and projected over $4 billion in adjusted EBITDA for 2027. The stock exploded 16.34% higher to $14.10 on the report.

At the time the trade was:  

• • 100 CLF 2028 $10 calls at $4.38 (43,800)
  • 70 Short CLF 2028 $15 calls at $2.80 ($19,600)
  • 100 CLF 2028 $10 puts at $1.89 (18,900) 
  • 25 short CLF Jan $12 calls at $1.71 ($4,279) 
  • 25 short Jan $12 puts at $1.43 ($3,563) 

That was a net $2,542 CREDIT on the potentially $50,000 spread and, less than two weeks later we’re now at net $6,125 for an $8,667 (340%) profit but, more importantly, right on track to our $50,000 goal. That’s still good for another potential $43,875 (716%) – even if you did miss the first 340% gain!  

2. HF Sinclair Corporation (DINO)

Origination & Post: Warren 2.0 & Phil Davis in “PhilStockWorld Top Trade Alert – June 11, 2026 – HF Sinclair Corp“ (June 11, 2026).

“HF Sinclair is currently trading with an A- valuation grade, making it one of the elite “cheap high flyers” in the materials and energy space. As a refiner, it trades at a historically low single-digit P/E ratio—well below our maximum threshold of 20—while offering solid price performance momentum.“

• Exact Options Trade Setup:
  • Sell 10 DINO 2028 $60 puts for $8.00 ($8,000 credit)
  • Buy 20 DINO 2028 $60 calls for $21.50 ($43,000 debit)
  • Sell 15 DINO 2028 $90 calls for $10.50 ($15,750 credit)
  • Sell 7 DINO Sept $72.50 calls for $6.20 ($4,340 credit)
  • Sell 5 DINO Sept $70 puts for $6.00 ($3,000 credit)

Net Cash Entry: $11,910 debit on a $60,000 spread ($22,000 in-the-money at start).

Q3 Earnings & Outcome: Capitalizing on Middle East energy supply constraints and high refining margins, DINO surged past $94.72, generating an upside gain of $47,110 (395%) on the long call spread in just 4 months.

Using long-term options does not stop you from capturing big moves in stocks – even if they occur right off the bat.

3. Apple, Inc (AAPL)

• Origination & Post: Detailed by Phil Davis (with analytical backup from Boaty) in chat and featured in “Inflationary Friday — Memory Bottlenecks Hit Consumer Electronics and Hyperscalers“ (June 26, 2026).
• The Thesis: Apple was selling off severely after CEO Tim Cook commented the memory prices were compressing margins. Phil and Boaty brilliantly made a case for how AAPL could simply re-allocate memory across their product line – a scenario that has since played out exactly as they predicted.   

Macro Thesis

Phil Davis structured the position as a calculated bet on Apple’s gross margin defense. Facing soaring DRAM and NAND memory costs, Apple was front-running 15%–25% hardware price hikes. The strategy relied on Apple’s sheer pricing power and cash-generative ecosystem to heal its 30x P/E multiple while generating high-probability income through option sales.

The Exact Option Trade Legs (Issued June 26, 2026)

• • Sell 10 AAPL 2028 $250 puts for $20.00 ($10,000 credit) (Executed on June 29 as Jan 2028 $250 puts for $19.50 / $19,500 credit)
  • Buy 20 AAPL Dec 2028 $300 calls for $53.50 ($107,000 debit)
  • Sell 15 AAPL Dec 2028 $370 calls for $30.00 ($45,000 credit)
  • Sell 7 AAPL Sept $300 calls for $8.50 ($5,950 credit)
  • Sell 5 AAPL Sept $270 puts for $9.20 ($4,600 credit)

Financial Profile & “Be the House” Math

• • Net Cash Outlay: $41,450 on June 26th (driven down to $31,700 net after finalizing the long-term short puts).
  • Notional Control: Controls economic exposure to 2,000 shares ($600,000+ of Apple stock) for just ~5.3% of the capital commitment.
  • Main Spread Value: $140,000 ($70 strike width across 20 contracts).
  • Main Spread Upside: $98,550 (a 237% return on capital) if AAPL trades above $370 at expiration.
  • Income Engine: Structured to collect ~$10,550 per quarter in front-month option sales over 9 cycles, targeting an additional $94,950 (229%) in cumulative premium collection

The spread has already gained $56,228 (177%) in 4 months and is merely “on track” towards it’s full potential.  

4. Check Point (CHPK)

1. 1. Deep Valuation Disconnect: At $137.50, CHKP was valued at a $14.2 billion market cap against $1.1 billion in annual net earnings, trading at just 13x earnings and 8.0x EV/NTM Free Cash Flow on July 9th. Compare that to the broader cybersecurity sector trading at 35x+ FCF, and CHKP was egregiously mispriced.
   2. Fortress Balance Sheet: Check Point sat on over $1.0 billion in net cash with zero debt stress, backed by a massive $2.0 billion share buyback authorization providing a structural floor.
   3. Key Catalysts: Amazon Web Services (AMZN) selected CHKP as an exclusive launch partner for the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, securing high-margin, regulatory-compliant government/enterprise contracts across the EU, alongside a Guggenheim upgrade targeting $188.
   4. Boring “Plumbing” Security: As corporate boards began slashing per-seat software licenses (“SaaSpocalypse“), mission-critical zero-trust infrastructure like Check Point remained a mandatory, un-cuttable budget item.

• • Sell 10 CHKP Jan $125 puts for $9.50 ($9,500 credit)
  • Buy 20 CHKP Jan $120 calls for $28.00 ($56,000 debit)
  • Sell 20 CHKP Jan $150 calls for $13.00 ($26,000 credit)
  • Sell 7 Oct $145 calls for $9.00 ($6,300 credit)
  • Sell 5 Oct $135 puts for $10.00 ($5,000 credit)

• • Net Cash Outlay: $9,200.
  • Notional Control: Controls a $60,000 spread ($30 strike width × 20 contracts).
  • Built-in Cushion: The long $120 calls started $36,000 in-the-money with CHKP trading at $137.50.
  • Max Upside Potential: $50,800 (a 552% return on cash) if CHKP reaches $150 by January expiration.
  • Income Protection: The short October $145 calls and $135 puts brought in $11,300 in immediate short-term premium, making the underlying LEAPS spread effectively free.

Checkpoint closed at $137.87 on October 16th, causing both the short October puts and calls to expire worthless for a net gain (so far) of $34,285 (372%) in 3.5 months and the full $60,000 expected to be collected at the January close in this relatively short-term trade.  

5. Victoria’s Secret (VSXY)

Warren 2.0’s trade idea from the morning report of Sept 4th, identified the following: 

“We have an immediate, powerful catalyst on the calendar: Gerri Martin-Flickinger (the legendary former Chief Information Officer of Adobe and Starbucks, who led some of the most successful digital retail transformations in history) officially joins the board on September 14th, 2026. This is an absolute heavyweight digital catalyst.

While the generalist software darlings are gapping down—with Guidewire sinking 15% on attrition normalization risks, Asana down 12%, and eGain collapsing 21.7% on AI runoff—we rotate our capital into a highly resilient, physical cash machine.”

•  
  • Overreaction to Minor Top-Line Miss: The stock tumbled 13.17% (down to $73.64) after missing quarterly revenue estimates by a modest $10 million.
  • Strong Operational Turnaround: Beneath the headline noise, comparable store sales under CEO Hillary Super grew 9%, profits nearly tripled, and management actively raised full-year sales guidance to $7.1B–$7.18B.
  • Extreme Valuation Discount: The Round Table identified this algorithmic sell-off as a classic retail turnaround offered at a massive discount, making it an ideal candidate to sell high implied volatility.

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• • Sell 10 VSXY Jan 2028 $75 puts for $21.00 credit ($21,000 total)
  • Buy 20 VSXY Jan 2028 $65 calls for $26.50 debit ($53,000 total)
  • Sell 15 VSXY Jan 2028 $85 calls for $20.00 credit ($30,000 total)
  • Sell 7 VSXY Dec 2026 $80 calls for $8.20 credit ($5,740 total)
  • Sell 5 VSXY Dec 2026 $75 puts for $10.50 credit ($5,250 total)

• • Net Cash Entry: $8,990 NET CREDIT (you get paid $8,990 upfront to open the position).
  • Spread Size: Controls a $40,000 spread ($20 strike width across 20 contracts).
  • In-The-Money Cushion: The long $65 calls started $21,000 in-the-money with VSXY trading near $74.50.
  • Downside Margin of Safety: The Jan 2028 short $75 puts create a net assignment basis of $54.00 ($75 strike minus the $21 premium collected), representing a ~27% discount floor below spot prices.
  • Income Engine: By layering the December 2026 short $80 calls and $75 puts, the spread collected an additional $10,990 in immediate short-term premium, exploiting high post-earnings volatility while letting time decay do the heavy lifting.

Just over a month later, the spread is already up net $16,135 (179%) and right on track to our full $40,000 goal and already over our conservative target of $85 – despite the market sell-off last week.   

Because we teach our Members to Be the House – NOT the Gambler! Our portfolios are filled with trades like these that provide exceptional returns but the techniques we teach can’t simply be applied to any stock – we need to select stocks that also have strong fundamentals that will hold their channels over time. 

Fortunately – we’re great at both of those things and, even more fortunately for you – we can teach you how it works but DON’T come to PhilStockWorld looking for a hand-out.  Learning how to trade options – especially from the House side of the table is a discipline you have to LEARN – just like any profession. 

We provide trade ideas like these for our Members every week and the educational training is constant for new and experienced traders alike. We can GIVE you a fish but here are 5 trade ideas above that still have already made a quick $162,425 and are on track to make $146,297 more PLUS premium sales for additional income along the way. 

If you want to learn to trade like that – we’re more than happy to teach you – both the Mechanical side and the Fundamental side of the trades and, if you want to see how it works first – we’ve already given you 5 fish with no obligation whatsoever.

See you inside!  

— Phil