Caterpillar Put Spread Preps For Further Downside Next Week
by Option Review - July 13th, 2012 3:00 pm
Today’s tickers: CAT, HAS & INTC
CAT - Caterpillar, Inc. – Shares in the world’s largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment are getting some relief today, trading up 1.5% at $80.84 this morning as U.S. stocks snap a six-day losing streak. Caterpillar’s shares, hit hard in recent months on concerns of a global slowdown, are down 30% off the February 24th 52-week high of $116.94. Trading traffic in options with one week remaining to expiration suggests, however, that the rally in CAT’s shares may be short lived and the shares have further to fall in the near term. It looks like one trader purchased a 1,500-lot July $72.5/$77.5 bear put spread for a net premium of $0.71 per contract. The spread positions the strategist to profit in the event shares in Caterpillar slide 5% to breach the effective breakeven price of $76.79, with maximum possible profits of $4.29 per contract available given a 10% pullback in the stock by expiration. Shares in CAT last traded below $72.50 back in October 2011. The company is scheduled to report second-quarter earnings ahead of the open on July 25th.
HAS - Hasbro, Inc. – Put options are in play on game maker Hasbro this morning ahead of the company’s July 23rd second-quarter earnings report. U.S. stocks are broadly moving higher today, enjoying their biggest gains of the month thus far, but Hasbro failed to join in the rally with its shares trading 1.1% lower on the day at $32.52 as of 11:50 a.m. in New York. Traders positioning for further downside in the stock purchased 1,500 puts at the Aug. $32.5 strike for a premium of $1.33 apiece. Put buyers stand prepared to profit should the price of the underlying decline another 4.2% to breach the average breakeven point at $31.17 by August expiration. Bearish options are also in play at the Aug. $30 strike, with around 1,000 puts purchased at an average premium of $0.45 each.…
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Which Way Wednesday: Through the Roof or Smashed into a Thousand Pieces?
by phil - October 19th, 2011 8:08 am
GRANDPA JOE: But this roof is made of glass. It’ll shatter into a thousand pieces. We’ll be cut to ribbons!
WILLY WONKA: Probably.
Is today going to be the day? After pressing against our breakout levels for a week, today do we should finally have the gas to get over the top or will our Must Hold levels keep acting like a solid barrier? Oddly enough, I was asking the same question on August 30th, when I asked if we were "Breaking Higher or Dressing Windows?" My comment from that morning works for today as well:
No way to slow down. That line from Tull’s "Locamotive Breath" keeps playing in my head as I look at these rumor-driven markets and contemplate that we MUST keep going higher – or we will fall. On the whole, that’s not generally a winning long-term investing premise BUT – it does so happen to be the entire principal on which space travel is based so let’s not discount it entirely.
Willy Wonka understood stock market physics, there had to be enough power to get through that overhead resistance or it was going to be a very painful test of the top (like the one we had in August). Since our July dip, we’ve come back for another try at our Must Hold lines 4 times but the volume has been substantially lower than it was in July, leading us to believe it is only TradeBots, and not Oompa Loompas, who are buying this market.
Can TradeBots alone give…
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Put Selling Ensues On Harry Winston Diamond Corp.
by Option Review - September 26th, 2011 2:44 pm
Today’s tickers: HWD, HAS & VSH
HWD - Harry Winston Diamond Corp. – Fresh prints in Harry Winston Diamond Corp. puts drove options volume in the front month above the prevailing level of overall open interest on the stock in the first half of the trading session. Shares in the specialist diamond company fell as much as 2.9% today to $10.36, bringing total declines in the stock up to roughly 43% since the end of May. The company was scheduled to present at the Telsey Advistory Group 2nd Annual Fall Consumer Conference just after 9:00 am EDT this morning.
One or more put players exchanged some 4,150 puts at the October $10 strike against zero open positions. It looks like most of the put options were sold for an average premium of $0.35 a-pop. Investors selling the contracts keep the full amount of premium as long as shares in Harry Winston exceed $10.00 through expiration next month. Heavy put selling pushed implied volatility on the Oct. $10 puts down more than 25% in early-afternoon trade. Shares in HWD have traded above $10.00 for more than one year, but did slip to as low as $9.61 in August 2010. Sellers of the puts likely expect shares in the miner of rough diamonds to resist above $10.00 through October expiration, and are happy to pocket available premium on the options in exchange for bearing the risk that the stock hits fresh lows in the next few weeks. Traders short the puts may have shares of the underlying stock put to them at an effective price of $9.65 each should the options land in-the-money at expiration day. Options implied volatility on the stock dropped 17.5% to 54.47% by 12:20 pm in New York.…
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Long-Term Bull Eyes Upside Potential at Fidelity National Information Services
by Option Review - January 10th, 2011 4:37 pm
Today’s tickers: FIS, AXL, PGN, HAS, GDX & MYL
FIS - Fidelity National Information Services – A three-legged options combination play on the global provider of banking and payments technology solutions, processing services and information-based services, indicates one strategist is long-term bullish on Fidelity National Information Services. Shares in FIS are currently up 0.20% to stand at $28.55 in the final 20 minutes of the session. The transaction positions the investor to attain maximum possible profits in the position if FIS shares break well above the current 52-week high of $30.78 on the stock. The options player sold 1,105 puts at the January 2012 $22.5 strike for an average premium of $1.03 each in order to offset the cost of buying the same number of January 2012 $30 strike calls at an average premium of $2.23 apiece, marked against the sale of 1,105 calls at the higher January 2012 $32.5 strike for an average premium of $1.05 a-pop. Net premium paid to initiate the three-legged spread amounts to $0.15 per contract. Thus, the options trader stands ready to make money should FIS shares surge 5.6% over the current price of $28.55 to exceed the average breakeven point to the upside at $30.15 ahead of expiration day next January. Maximum potential profits of $2.35 per contract are available to the trader should shares in Fidelity National Information Services jump 13.8% to trade above $32.50 before the contracts expire in 2012.
AXL - American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. – Shares of the auto parts manufacturer shot up as much as 9.0% this afternoon to secure an intraday high of $15.25 by 3:40pm in New York trading on unconfirmed takeover chatter. Rumors that Magna International Inc. may place a $23 to $25 cash bid for AXL spurred a rally in the price of the American Axle’s shares and drove speculators to options in the name. Additionally, analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. reportedly rated AXL at ‘overweight’ and said shares could move into the upper-teens in the next…
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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. She manages the site
