Symantec Corp. Calls Look For Shares To Extend Rally
by Option Review - February 15th, 2013 4:12 pm
Today’s tickers: SYMC, ADS & FLO
SYMC - Symantec Corp. – Shares in the maker of security software traded up as much as 1.0% to a new 52-week high of $22.91 during the first few hours of the trading day, but are off earlier highs at present to stand just 0.05% higher on the day at $22.68 as of midday in New York. The stock has risen nearly 30% during the past six months, and some options traders appear to be positioning for the price of the underlying to extend gains during the next couple of months. The most actively traded options contracts on Symantec today are the April $25 strike calls, with upwards of 8,000 call options changing hands against open interest of 600 contracts. Traders paid an average premium of $0.20 apiece for the $25 calls, and may profit at April expiration in the event that SYMC shares rally 11% during the next nine weeks to top $25.20.
FLO - Flowers Foods, Inc. – Put options are changing hands on Flowers Foods this morning, with shares in the maker of breads, buns and snack cakes down 1.4% at $27.61 in early afternoon trading. Heavy put buying on Flowers in the early going drove overall options volume above 4,500 contracts, sizable volume versus the stock’s average daily level of around 470 contracts. Most of the activity is in the Mar. $25 strike puts, which appear to have been purchased roughly 4,000 times for an average premium of $0.37 apiece. Traders snapping up downside puts on Flowers stand ready to profit at expiration next month should shares in the food products company drop 11% to settle below the average breakeven price of $24.63. The Thomasville, Georgia-based bread maker has bid on certain Hostess bread bakeries and bread brands ahead of a competitive auction at the end of the month. Flowers Foods shares have rallied more than 35% since Hostess declared bankruptcy in mid-November.…
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Ralcorp Call Buyers See Big Overnight Paper Profits; Symantec, Oracle Options Active
by Option Review - November 27th, 2012 12:56 pm
Today’s tickers: RAH, SYMC & ORCL
RAH - Ralcorp Holdings, Inc. – Shares in the St. Louis, Missouri-based producer of private-brand food products increased more than 25% this morning after packaged food products maker, ConAgra Foods, Inc., agreed to buy Ralcorp for $90.00 a share. Ralcorp Holdings, Inc. shares are currently up 26.3% on the session at $88.71, trading below the deal price announced ahead of the opening bell this morning. Relatively small increases in call open interest following Monday’s trading session indicates one or more strategists who established bullish positions on Ralcorp yesterday are enjoying massive paper profits on those positions today. A review of time and sales data for the Nov. $70 and $80 strike calls reveals 50 calls were purchased at each strike yesterday at premiums of $1.80 and $0.55 apiece, respectively. Double-digit percentage gains in the price of the underlying on news of the ConAgra deal now finds the value of these deep in-the-money call options up big, with last-traded prices of $18.70 and $8.70 each, respectively.
SYMC - Symantec Corp. – Upside call buying on the security, storage and systems software and services provider this morning suggests one or more options traders are preparing for shares in Symantec Corp. to potentially rally to fresh multi-year highs during the next eight weeks. The stock today trades 0.50% higher on the session at $18.39 as of 11:45 a.m. in New York. Symantec’s shares have increased roughly 40% since the end of July when the stock slumped to a two-year low of $13.06. The most actively traded options on SYMC this morning are the Jan. 2013 $21 strike calls, which changed upwards of 6,000 times against open interest of 2,162 contracts. Most of the volume appears to have been purchased for an average premium of $0.14 apiece within the first 10 minutes of the opening bell today. Call buyers stand ready to profit at expiration next year should shares in Symantec rally 15% over the current…
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Smart Virtual Portfolio Management Update – The $10,000 Virtual Portfolio
by phil - August 7th, 2010 8:25 am
Options Sage submits:
“Never risk what you do have and do need on what you don’t have and don’t need”
Smart virtual portfolio management is a world apart from conventional virtual portfolio management. While conventional virtual portfolio management offers generic guidelines to diversify capital, smart virtual portfolio management is tailored to your personal circumstances. With that in mind this article has been divided into a three-part series. The first discusses a $10K virtual portfolio while the second will offer suggestions for a $100K virtual portfolio and the final article will discuss $1M virtual portfolios.
Although this first article in the series addresses prudent strategies for a $10K virtual portfolio, many conservative investors are likely to find the strategies addressed throughout suitable for their own virtual portfolios – though the % allocations will differ as we will see in the future articles. No matter what your risk tolerance, a virtual portfolio comprising some relatively conservative trades is always prudent!
Phil once commented that, when trading a $10,000 virtual portfolio, “every $100 counts”!
Capital should be allocated judiciously in a $10K virtual portfolio. NEVER allocate a majority of your capital to any single trade. Dedicating 20% of your virtual portfolio to relatively conservative trades (shown below) is appropriate but exceeding 30% is far too risky when dealing with limited capital. With a $10K virtual portfolio, it becomes increasingly imperative to be right first time. Financial constraints limit your ability to scale into trades at different threshold levels and that makes timing critical unless….
Unless you figure out how to trade without requiring perfect timing of the market! Those of you trading along with Phil’s earnings spreads have already seen some of the ways we take advantage of stock movement, whether they go up, stay flat or even drop to some degree…
Strategy A: The Covered Call – With a Twist – Making 30% in 5 Months
The original trade was 5 June $3/4 bull call spread at net .87 ($435), which finished at $500 for a nice $65 gain (15%) in 7 weeks. A lot of small virtual portfolio player spend too much time "going for it" with risky trades when there is very good money to be made on sensible ones. – Phil
Instead of placing…
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Smart Portfolio Management I – The $10,000 Virtual Portfolio
by phil - May 1st, 2010 8:29 am
Options Sage submits:
“Never risk what you do have and do need on what you don’t have and don’t need”
Smart virtual portfolio management is a world apart from conventional virtual portfolio management. While conventional virtual portfolio management offers generic guidelines to diversify capital, smart virtual portfolio management is tailored to your personal circumstances. With that in mind this article has been divided into a three-part series. The first discusses a $10K virtual portfolio while the second will offer suggestions for a $100K virtual portfolio and the final article will discuss $1M virtual portfolios.
Although this first article in the series addresses prudent strategies for a $10K virtual portfolio, many conservative investors are likely to find the strategies addressed throughout suitable for their own virtual portfolios – though the % allocations will differ as we will see in the future articles. No matter what your risk tolerance, a virtual portfolio comprising some relatively conservative trades is always prudent!
Phil once commented that, when trading a $10,000 virtual portfolio, “every $100 counts”!
Capital should be allocated judiciously in a $10K virtual portfolio. NEVER allocate a majority of your capital to any single trade. Dedicating 20% of your virtual portfolio to relatively conservative trades (shown below) is appropriate but exceeding 30% is far too risky when dealing with limited capital. With a $10K virtual portfolio, it becomes increasingly imperative to be right first time. Financial constraints limit your ability to scale into trades at different threshold levels and that makes timing critical unless….
Unless you figure out how to trade without requiring perfect timing of the market! Those of you trading along with Phil’s earnings spreads have already seen some of the ways we take advantage of stock movement, whether they go up, stay flat or even drop to some degree…
Strategy A: The Covered Call – With a Twist – Making 15% in Just 7 Weeks
Instead of placing the short call out-of-the-money in the conventional format, the short call is actually placed in-the-money.
C closed on Friday at $4.37. Since the C has had come down a lot ,…
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Xyratex’s Earnings Forecast Inspires Bullish Options Activity
by Option Review - April 1st, 2010 4:11 pm
Today’s tickers: XRTX, EXEL, PBR, F, BPOP, ALTH, RIG, MYL, HIG & SYMC
XRTX – Xyratex, Ltd. – Shares of the provider of data storage and network technology surged 13.7% at the start of the trading session to a new 52-week high of $19.25 after the firm said it anticipates earnings per share of at least $1.10 in the second quarter. The company’s earnings forecast is significantly greater than the consensus estimate of $0.76 per share. The wear-and-tear of the trading session parsed some of the early-morning rally, but Xyratex’s shares are still up 9.50% to $18.56 as of 2:45 pm (ET). Bullish investors prepared for continued appreciation in the price of the underlying by purchasing 1,100 calls at the June $20 strike for an average premium of $1.49 apiece. Call-buyers at this strike profit only if shares surge 15.8% from the current price of $18.56 to exceed the effective breakeven point at $21.49 by expiration day in June. Options traders exchanged 5,025 contracts on the stock during the trading day, which is nearly on par with total existing open interest on XRTX of 5,656 contracts.
EXEL – Exelixis, Inc. – Bullish options trading tactics were employed on the biotechnology company this afternoon as the firm’s shares surged 11.7% to an intraday high of $6.78. It looks like one investor sold 5,000 puts short at the November $5.0 strike price to take in an average premium of $0.40 per contract. The put seller keeps the full premium received on the transaction as long as shares of Exelixis trade above $5.00 through expiration day in November. By selling the put contracts, the investor implies he is willing to have shares of the underlying stock put to him at an effective price of $4.60 each in the event that the put options land in-the-money at expiration. The jump in options activity on the stock and the shift in share price lifted the overall reading of options implied volatility on Exelixis 42.2% to 82.1% in the final hours of the trading week.
PBR – Petroleo Brasileiro SA – A debit call spread enacted on Brazilian oil and gas company, Petroleo Brasileiro, suggests one investor is positioning for continued bullish movement in the price of the underlying stock through July expiration. PetroBras’ shares rallied 1.9% late in afternoon trading to stand at $45.35 as of 2:30 pm (ET). The optimistic options trader purchased 2,500…
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Semiconductor HOLDRS Options Heat Up in Late Trading
by Option Review - March 24th, 2010 4:30 pm
Today’s tickers: SMH, X, WMT, SYMC, MOS, SKS, GE, GENZ, DVN & ADBE
SMH – Semiconductor HOLDRS Trust – Massive bearish positioning on the Semiconductor HOLDRS Trust, which holds shares of common stock issued by 20 different companies engaged in the semiconductor business, indicates shares of the underlying stock may be set to tumble lower ahead of expiration day next month. Shares of the SMH are down 2.40% to $27.92 with thirty minutes remaining in the trading session. It appears one investor purchased 50,000 put options at the April $27 strike for an average premium of $0.41 per contract. Such a large stake in bearish put options suggests the purchaser is perhaps paying for the privilege of securing downside protection on a long underlying stock position. If this is the case, the put contracts yield protection should shares of the SMH trade beneath the effective breakeven price of $26.59 ahead of expiration. Of course, it is also possible the trader does not currently own shares of the SMH. In this scenario the investor makes money if shares fall another 4.75% below the current price to breach the breakeven point on the puts at $26.59. The sudden flurry of options activity on the Semiconductor HOLDRS Trust lifted the overall reading of options implied volatility 7.8% to 26.35%. SMH-investors exchanged more than 131,900 contracts this afternoon, which represents nearly 72% of total existing open interest of 183,473 contracts.
X – United States Steel Corp. – Shares of iron and steel producer, United States Steel Corp., rallied 0.65% during afternoon trading to $63.75. Bullish traders anticipating continued share price appreciation for U.S. Steel purchased out-of-the-money call options in the October contract. Nearly 5,600 calls were coveted at the October $75 strike for an average premium of $4.68 apiece. Investors holding these call contracts stand ready to accrue profits if shares of the underlying stock surge 25% to surpass the effective breakeven share price of $79.68 ahead of expiration day in October. We note that U.S. Steel’s share price last traded above $80.00 during the final days of September 2008.
WMT – Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. – The largest retailer on the planet experienced a slight pullback in the value of its shares this afternoon perhaps on news the firm may sell $2 billion of 5- and 30-year senior notes. Shares edged 0.40% lower during the session stand at $55.68. Options traders expecting lower volatility…
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Weekend Wipe-Out, the Second Wave!
by phil - January 29th, 2010 5:57 pm
Another week another 100 points lower.
Yep, that's all it was, we lost all of 100 points more than last week, when we fell from 10,725 to 10,172 (553 points) and this week we dropped from Friday's Dow close of 10,172 all the way down to 10,067 yet you would think the world had come to an end to hear the media and the traders freaking out. I'm not going to try to explain it, I can't. Maybe it's because going into last week we were very bearish but, starting on the 22nd, we let ourselves finally get a little more bullish AND THE MARKET BETRAYED US!
How could the market not zoom right back up? It always zooms right back up, doesn't it? As I said a week ago Friday: "Boy, when sentiment shifts – it REALLY shifts!" My closing comment on Friday the 22nd was "Back to cash but leaving disaster hedges, which are looking great now as this is shaping up to be some disaster" and our weekend "Global Chart Review" showed us to be at some very key inflection points, letting us go well prepared into this week:
Manic Monday Market Movement
My Jets lost on Sunday so I was not in the best of moods on Monday. My outlook that morning was: "We still have our disaster hedges in case things get worse but, on the whole, we’re expecting a 1% bounce in the very least off our 5% lines (anything less will be a bad sign)." We were pretty much at the 5% rule on Friday's close so we focused on the bounce we wanted to achieve in order to get more bullish.
I noted that the levels we were looking for were not exactly 1% retraces (see post for reasons) and our target retraces were: Dow 10,300, S&P 1,105, Nasdaq 2,225, NYSE 7,100 and Russell 625. What were the highs for the week on those indexes? Dow 10,310 (+10), S&P 1,103 (-2), Nasdaq 2,227 (+2), NYSE 7,098 (-2) and Russell 621 (-4). So that's a net of +4 points out of 21,355 points worth of predictions on the retrace, accuracy to within .019% - not a bad showing for our patented 5% rule.
Please, under NO circumstances subscribe to our daily newsletter, where you would have this kind of information every morning and…
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Analyst Upgrade Fuels Bullish Option Plays on Iron-Ore Giant Vale
by Option Review - January 19th, 2010 4:36 pm
Today’s tickers: VALE, MBT, FXI, NWL, CSE, VZ, XLV, CBY, HSY & SYMC
VALE – Vale S.A. – Shares of the world’s largest producer of iron-ore surged 2.75% in afternoon trading to stand at $31.18 after the firm received an upgrade to ‘overweight’ from ‘equal weight’ with a target share price of $39.00 at Barclays Capital. Indications of like-minded optimism are apparent in today’s option trading patterns on the stock. It looks like one investor initiated a put credit spread in the March contract. The bullish transaction involved the sale of 5,000 puts at the March $31 strike for a premium of $1.67 apiece, spread against the purchase of 5,000 puts at the lower March $28 strike for an average premium of $0.66 each. The credit spread results in a net credit of 1.01 per contract to the investor, who keeps the full premium received if VALE’s shares trade above $31.00 through expiration in March. The width of the spread indicates maximum potential losses on the trade of $1.99 per contract if shares of the iron-ore maker slump to $28.00 ahead of expiration.
MBT – Mobile Telesystems OJSC – The Russian provider of wireless communication services appeared on our ‘hot by options volume’ market scanner this afternoon due to near-term bullish options activity. Optimistic option plays fit neatly with the current 3.5% rally in shares of the underlying to $52.25 today. Traders sold 2,500 puts at the February $47.5 strike for a premium of $0.70 per contract, while the same number of calls were purchased at the higher February $55 strike for about $1.05 apiece. Another chunk of 2,500 puts were shed at the March $40 strike for approximately $0.33 each. All three transactions indicate bullish sentiment on Mobile Telesystems. If the trades are perhaps the work of one individual, the three-legged combination creates a clear directional play. In such a case, the investor will have paid a net $0.02 per contract for the calls by selling short the put options as described above. The long call stance positions the trader – in this example – to accrue profits if shares of MBT rally another 5.30% to surpass the effective breakeven price of $55.02 by expiration next month. We note that shares of the firm traded as high as $55.71 on October 21, 2009.
FXI – iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index Fund – Shares of the FXI, which invests assets…
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Vale Options Bulls Continue to Charge as Shares Slumber
by Option Review - October 7th, 2009 6:48 pm
Today’s tickers: VALE, AMZN, TAP, FDO, SYMC, MON, MFA & TLB
VALE - Option traders set up long-term bullish trades across several contracts on the world’s largest iron-ore producer. Shares edged 0.25% lower this afternoon to $23.82 despite the upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’ and the increase in target price to $31.00 from $25.00, at Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. One investor reeled in profits by closing out an existing short put position. He originally sold 6,500 puts at the March 23 strike for a premium of 3.35 apiece. Today he made a closing purchase of all the contracts for 2.40 each. Net profits on the transaction amount to 95 cents each or total gains of $617,500. Next, it seems the same investor initiated a new bullish stance on the stock by employing the same short-put strategy at the January 2011 22.5 strike where he sold 6,500 puts for 4.00 per contract. The next optimistic transaction today was a bullish risk reversal. One investor shed 10,000 puts at the January 2011 20 strike for 2.87 each in order to partially finance the purchase of 10,000 calls at the January 25 strike for 4.00 per contract. The net cost of the reversal amounts to 1.13. Thus, profits are available on the trade if VALE’s shares rally a minimum of 10% by expiration, to surpass the breakeven price of $26.13. – Vale S.A. –
AMZN - Shares of e-tailer, Amazon.com, are up 3% to $93.61. A bullish risk reversal in the November contract today suggests at least one option trader expects to see significant near-term gains in the stock by expiration. The reversal involved the sale of 5,000 puts at the November 80 strike for an average premium of 1.80 apiece. The short sale of the put options partially financed the purchase of 5,000 calls at the November 105 strike for 2.30 each. The net cost of the trade amounts to 50 cents per contract. If the investor is to accumulate profits by expiration, shares of AMZN must add at least 13% to the current price to breach the breakeven point at $105.50. – Amazon.com, Inc. –
TAP - The beer brewing company appeared on our ‘hot by options volume’ market scanner due to bearish options action in the January 2011 contract. Shares edged 0.5% higher during the trading session to $49.52. The investor responsible for the trade sold 5,000 calls at the January 55…
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September SPDR puts active
by Option Review - May 8th, 2009 6:19 pm
Today’s tickers: SPY, F, DELL, SYMC, DE, FITB, ASML, SMH & UNH
SPY SPDR Trust Series – So implied volatility as measured by the fear gauge known as the VIX, the CBOE volatility index has come screaming off today after a nerve-soothing employment report. The VIX is down 2.17 points today to 31.25. The ongoing rally for equities is likely a snapback against an Armageddon-like scenario priced in to stocks throughout the first quarter. With a lessening in the economic contraction and today’s data icing the cake, investors have thrown in the towel on the bear market and have reduced demand for protection through puts. However, in the S&P index, one investor seems to feel that the rebound won’t extend beyond September and has bought a sizeable chunk of protective puts. The SPDR trades at one-tenth the value of the underlying index and today is 2.5% to the better at 93.15. Some 72,000 put options at the September contract have been purchased at the 75.0 strike for premiums anywhere between 1.84 and 2.05. Breakeven in the worst case example would be at 72.96. That would need a decline of 21.6% to come good. At some point, investors will sit around the camp fire and have a rethink after this huge counter-trend rally. What’s next?
F Ford Motor Company – The only big-three auto company in the US to remain standing without federal aid has climbed 2% to $6.20 per share today. The bullish move in shares could be due to the news that Ford may receive as much as $440 million in government loans. The money would be utilized to facilitate the conversion of a Michigan SUV (sport utility vehicle) factory to one that builds small, fuel-efficient automobiles. Ford edged onto our ‘most active by options volume’ market scanner later on in the afternoon after one individual was seen getting bullish on the stock. In the January 2011 contract the trader was seen shedding 55,000 put options at the January 2.5 strike price for a premium of 80 cents apiece. The investor pockets the premium today as he does not see shares declining through $2.50 over the next year and a half. Option implied volatility on Ford is currently at 85%.
DELL Dell, Inc. – The just-in-time provider of personal computers attracted bullish options investors despite the more than 3.5% decline in shares to $10.65. Perhaps individuals looking for…
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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.