Traders Take To Angie’s List Options
by Option Review - December 5th, 2011 3:13 pm
Today’s tickers: ANGI, DRI & AEO
ANGI - Angie’s List, Inc. – Demand for Angie’s List options, which have been available for trading for less than one week, is on the rise today. Shares in the operator of same-named website that aggregates consumer ratings for local service providers such as electricians and plumbers rose 3.7% to stand at $14.53 in early-afternoon trade. The stock ended the month of November below its $13.00 IPO price, but has come back to life in December, rallying back above its initial IPO this past Friday. The Internet company’s shares continued their ascent on Monday, but call selling by one strategist suggests he sees little chance the stock will achieve new record highs by January 2012 expiration. The trader appears to have sold 800 calls at the Jan. 2012 $17.5 strike for a premium of $0.90 apiece. The full amount of premium received on the transaction is safe in the investor’s wallet as long as Angie’s List shares trade below $17.50 at expiration day next month. Shares in ANGI would need to jump 26.6% to top the upper breakeven price of $18.40 in order for the investor to start losing money on the position.
DRI - Darden Restaurants, Inc. – Options traders appear to be gearing up for shares in the operator of Red Lobster and Olive Garden to rise over the next couple of weeks to December expiration. Shares in Darden Restaurants, Inc. increased 0.90% to stand at $47.95 as of 11:50 AM in New York. The stock has rallied more than 7.0% in the past six trading session. Investors hungry for additional gains in the price of the underlying snapped up more than 2,300 calls at the Dec. $50 strike for an average premium of $0.35 a-pop. Call buyers stand prepared to profit should shares in Darden climb…
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Appetite for Darden Calls and Puts Grows Ahead of Earnings
by Option Review - June 29th, 2011 4:27 pm
Today’s tickers: DRI, MGM, CSTR & RMD
DRI - Darden Restaurants, Inc. – Investors are dining on both call and put options on the operator of Red Lobster and Olive Garden restaurants today ahead of the company’s fourth-quarter earnings report tomorrow after the close of trading. Shares in one of the world’s largest company-owned and operated full-service restaurant companies are up 0.70% this afternoon to stand at $49.60. The rise in demand for options on the stock helped lift DRI’s overall reading of options implied volatility 13.3% to 31.00% by 1:00pm in New York. Traders gearing up for a post-earnings rally purchased more than 2,000 calls at the July $50 strike for an average premium of $1.05 a-pop. Call buyers make money in the event that Darden’s shares rise 2.9% to trade above the average breakeven price of $51.05 through July expiration day. Bullish sentiment on the stock spread to the August $55 strike where investors scooped up 1,400 calls at an average premium of $0.30 per contract. Traders long the calls profit at August expiration if shares in DRI soar 11.5% to exceed the average breakeven price of $55.30. Of course, investors may be able to sell the calls ahead of expiration if a post-earnings rally in the price of the underlying shifts call premium in their favor. Not all options players are hungry for a rally. It looks like traders positioning for a near-term pullback in Darden’s shares paid an average premium of $1.30 per contract to pick up around 2,400 puts at the July $49 strike. Put buyers profit if shares in the restaurant operator tumble 3.8% to breach the average breakeven point on the downside at $47.70 at expiration next month. More than 9,500 options have changed hands on Darden Restaurants, Inc. as of 1:05pm on the East Coast.…
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Investors Feed on Darden Restaurants Call and Put Options Ahead of Earnings
by Option Review - December 20th, 2010 4:51 pm
Today’s tickers: DRI, AKS, GRA & GMXR
DRI - Darden Restaurants, Inc. – Options strategists are feasting on near-term call and put options on the operator of eateries such as Red Lobster and Olive Garden ahead of the firm’s second-quarter earnings report, which is scheduled for release before the market opens on Tuesday. Shares in Darden Restaurants rallied as much as 1.6% during the session to touch an intraday high of $50.67. The impending earnings announcement as well as increased demand for options on the stock lifted Darden’s overall reading of options implied volatility 12.0% to 33.20% as of 12:40pm in New York. Investors expecting shares to shatter the current 52-week high of $50.83 by January 2011 expiration scooped up in-the-money call options. It looks like bulls purchased roughly 2,000 now in-the-money calls at the January 2011 $50 strike for an average premium of $1.92 per contract. Call buyers are prepared to profit should shares in Darden Restaurants jump 2.5% over today’s high of $50.67 to surpass the average breakeven price on the calls at $51.92 by January expiration day. Meanwhile, traders wary that shares of the underlying stock may slip following earnings picked up roughly 1,800 puts at the same January 2011 $50 strike for an average premium of $1.76 each. Put buyers at this strike are poised to profit in the event that the restaurant operator’s shares decline 4.8% to trade below the effective breakeven point on the downside at $48.24 by expiration next month.
AKS - AK Steel Holding Corp. – Options activity on the steel producer today suggests one strategist expects shares in AK Steel Holding Corp. to remain range-bound over the next six months to June 2011 expiration. AK Steel’s shares fell as much as 3.4% during the first half of the trading session to touch down at an intraday low of $15.72. The steel maker’s shares rallied sharply at the end of last week, rising 14.3% from Wednesday’s closing price of $14.42 to Friday’s high of $16.48. But, the sale…
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Japanese ETF Options Active (After Philstockworld’s Thursday Pick)
by Option Review - December 11th, 2009 5:29 pm
Today’s tickers: EWJ, RX, UUP, DRI, IMAX, SFD & AET
EWJ – iShares MSCI Japan Index Fund – Shares of the Japan exchange-traded fund rose 0.3% today to $9.92. The roughly 125,000 contracts exchanged on the fund today is likely the work of one investor adjusting previously established positions. The trader may be unraveling a portion of a bearish risk reversal established back in late-September. It appears 62,500 puts were sold at the March 10 strike for 53 cents apiece, spread against the purchase of the same number of calls at the January 2011 12 strike for 24 cents premium each. The technically bullish direction of the risk reversal play is possibly a closing transaction given the large levels of existing open interest at each strike described above.
RX – IMS Health, Inc. – Shares of the provider of prescription information to the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries plummeted 14% to $18.34 at the start of the trading session. The stock collapsed on news senate democrats proposed an amendment to restrict data-mining practices. Investor uncertainty, as measured by option implied volatility, exploded today on fears the proposed ban may hurt RX’s recent $5.2 billion sale to TPG Inc. and the CPP Investment Board. IMS Health’s shares recovered significantly by midday (EDT) with the stock down a lesser 7.5% to $19.77. Frenzied option traders vied for both calls and puts in the December and January contracts. Investors exchanged nearly 100,000 contracts on the stock in the first three hours of the trading day. Today’s volume blew right past the previous existing open interest on RX of 73,386 contracts. Heavy trading volume and rising investor uncertainty launched option implied volatility up as much as 401.72% to a one-year high of 70.55%. Some traders appear to be selling call options to buy puts in the December contract, while other investors initiated plain-vanilla put buying strategies. Bearish individuals shed more than 6,000 calls at the December 20 strike for an average premium of 46 cents apiece. Traders keep the premium received on the sale if shares of RX remain below $20.00 through expiration. Put buyers favored the December 17.5 strike where roughly 10,000 puts were picked up for about 46 cents each. Some of the puts were spread against the sale of higher strike call options, while other contracts were purchased outright. Roughly 5,000 puts were purchased at the lower December 15 strike where investors…
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Monday Morning – 6 Unemployed People Per Job?
by phil - September 28th, 2009 8:26 am
The number of unemployed people per job opening has climbed to 6:
Six is a lot, as you can see from the above chart. 6 means that if you get a job, 5 people absolutely will NOT be able to get a job because you just took the last one. Notice Job Openings are still falling and people without jobs are still rising – this is not a good combination, despite how great you hear things are getting on TV. In the first 6 months of this year, there are half as many manufacturing jobs available, 17% less Government Jobs, 21% less Professional Jobs and 21% less Educational Jobs.
Call me old-fashioned but I still think you need people to work in order to have a strong economy. If we have 10% unemployment (the "official" number) and only 1 in 6 people COULD get jobs if they filled every single available opening tomorrow. That still leaves us with 8.5% unemployment. We are miles and miles away from creating jobs and that is very scary.
As I predicted in the Weekend Wrap-Up, Merkel won her election in Germany and the new "Pro-Business" coalition is making investors happy but Germany has some silly rule about balancing their budget so it will be a long time before you see the massive tax cuts that investors are salivating over. Also, one would think people would sober up and short the Euro if their plan is to start running the German printing presses in a US-styled Spendocracy but no action in the currency markets so far. I wrote some extensive commentary on the German situation in Member Chat so I won't get into it again here.
This weekend, I also posed the questions "Are Fundamentals Making a Comeback," or are we just resting before the next big push to 10,000? We’ll be keeping a very close eye on our 5% rule levels next week, especially the retrace levels from the 20% run-ups since early July:
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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...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW.