Bear Put Spread Constructed On Baidu
by Option Review - July 15th, 2013 8:15 pm
Today’s tickers: BIDU, TZOO & ANN
BIDU - Baidu, Inc. – Shares in Baidu are rising for a fourth-consecutive trading session, rising as much as 4.6% during morning trading to $101.26, the highest level in more than one month. One options strategy initiated on the Chinese language Internet search provider today appears to indicate that one trader is bracing for the price of the underlying to potentially surrender recent gains this week. It looks like the trader purchased a bear put spread, buying 1,823 puts at the Jul 19 ’13 $97.5 strike at a premium of $0.77 each, and selling the same number of puts at the Jul 19 ’13 $87.5 strike for a premium of $0.02 apiece. The net cost of the trade amounts to $0.75 per contract. The position potentially becomes profitable if shares in BIDU decline 3.4% from the current price of $100.15 to settle below the effective breakeven price of $96.75 at expiration. Maximum potential profits of $9.25 per contract are available on the spread should shares plunge 12.6% to $87.50. Shares in Baidu last traded below $87.50 in May. Baidu is scheduled to report second-quarter earnings after the closing bell next Wednesday.
TZOO - Travelzoo, Inc. – Trading in Travelzoo options this morning suggests some traders are positioning for shares in the name to continue pushing to the upside in the near term. Shares in the online publisher of travel and entertainment deals rallied as much as 8.3% today to a new 52-week high of $32.39, with just two full trading sessions remaining before the company’s second-quarter earnings report prior to the opening bell on Thursday. Options traders believing that the stock has substantially more room to run during the next four weeks purchased more than 250 calls at the Aug $35 strike for an average premium of $0.52…
Mega Earnings Monday – 1,000 Reports This Week!
by phil - April 26th, 2010 8:21 am
What a crazy week this is going to be!
Pre-Market we're hearing from BLK, CAT (are we building stuff?), EXP, HTZ, HUM, LO, TUES and TZOO and later we will hear from BSX, CHH, OLN, RSH, RCII, TXN (major) and my "friendbuddypal" Cramer's TSCM (if they are not delayed). Revenues at The Street have crept back up this year in a recovery that pretty much mirrors the market. The company does pay a nice 2.6% dividend, which works out to a nice $200,000 bonus on Jimmy's 2.1M shares (6.7% of the company) so you know that bonus will be a priority for the company. Cramer was BUYBUYBUYing his own stock at $2.41 in January but sadly they have no options to hedge… They might make a nice pick-up after earnings if they disappoint and head back to $3 or less.
I'm full of useful information on hundreds of stocks right now because I've been researching our new Buy List but I'm not pleased with what I've been seeing so far and this week's tidal wave of earnings, with 1,000 companies reporting means we're in no hurry to dip our toes in the water. I told Members this morning I should probably be working on a Sell List, as it's much easier to find companies I want to short than ones I want to buy. Even in the Weekly Wrap-Up, we featured a 1,900% downside hedge on the Russell to offset the 566% plays and other bullish plays we've begun to reluctantly take, just so we don't feel too silly in this runaway market.
If you have never watched Jim Cramer discussing the sleazy, manipulative ways he used to game the markets – you really must take 10 minutes and watch this video, where Jim explains how any immoral bastard with $10M can yank the entire futures market around at will. He prefaces one of his favorite strategies with "this is blatantly illegal but.. I think it's really important… these are things you MUST do on a day like today and if you are not doing it, maybe you shouldn't be in the game." Are you playing the game or are you being played?
The biggest game ever played may be unwinding as we speak. Bloomberg reports that foreign-exchange profits from carry trades are disappearing as differences in central…