Options Player May Profit If FedEx Delivers By October Expiration
by Option Review - September 8th, 2011 4:45 pm
Today’s tickers: FDX, RRD, GCI & TLAB
FDX - FedEx Corp. – Sizable prints in call and put options on the provider of a range of shipping, transportation and business support services suggests one investor expects shares in FedEx Corp. to rebound substantially by October expiration. The stock today trades 0.50% lower on the session at $75.75 as of 12:00 pm on the East Coast. July and August were tough months to be long shares in Fedex, which fell nearly 28.0% from a 52-week high of $98.66 on July 7, down to a 52-week low of $71.33 on Tuesday. The three-legged options play could be a sign the investor expects monetary policy from the Fed to send shares higher, or perhaps for President Obama’s much-anticipated speech on jobs to inject some optimism into the market. Looking at a 2-year chart of FDX shares, it looks like the stock fell off a cliff in April 2010, bottoming out in July of last year, and ultimately spiking higher on the heels of Bernanke’s announcement of QE2. If the Fed ends up coming to the rescue, and markets believe the proposed actions will work, shares in FedEx could behave as they did around this time last year. The stock gained around 25.0% following the 2010 Economic Symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to top $98.00 a share in 2011. Speculation on possible Fed action aside, investors will surely be listening to Obama’s speech this evening to see if he says anything they don’t already expect to hear.
The trader appears to have sold around 5,000 puts at the October $67.5 strike, in order to purchase the October $77.5/$82.5 call spread 5,000 times, all for an average net premium of just $0.52 per contract. The transaction positions the trader to make money should FedEx’s…