Masco Calls Active After Earnings; IWM Attracts Large Put ‘Fly
by Option Review - February 12th, 2013 2:18 pm
Today’s tickers: MAS, IWM & WU
MAS - Masco Corp. – It’s up, up and away for shares in Masco this morning, with the stock up 14.5% on the session at a new four-year high of $20.36, following the maker of home improvement and building products strong fourth-quarter earnings report released after the close on Monday. The stock is up more than 80% since this time last year. Options traders positioning for further upside in the stock during the next few months snapped up some 415 calls at the April $22 strike at a premium of $0.25 per contract. Call buyers profit at April expiration should Masco Corp. shares increase another 9.3% to surpass the effective breakeven price of $22.25. Meanwhile, pre-earnings report bullish bets on MAS have resulted in substantial overnight paper profits for some traders today. It looks like traders purchased around 240 calls at the Feb. $18 strike for an average premium of $0.35 apiece yesterday. These contracts are currently changing hands at $2.60 apiece, a seven-fold increase over the price paid on Monday.
IWM - iShares Russell 2000 Index Fund – Shares in the iShares Russell 2000 Index Fund rallied to a fresh multi-year high again this morning, increasing 0.40% in the early going to touch $91.10. The ETF has rallied more than 8.0% since the end of 2012, but a large options combination play initiated yesterday suggests one strategist is prepared for shares in the fund to pullback during the next six weeks. It looks like the trader purchased a 1-by-2-by-1 put butterfly spread, buying 50,000 puts at the both the Mar. 28 ’13 $82 and $88 strikes and selling 100,000 puts at the central Mar. 28 ’13 $85 strike, for a net premium outlay of $0.29 per contract. The large put ‘fly makes money if shares in the IWM slip 3.7% from Tuesday’s high of $91.10 to breach the breakeven point at $87.71, with maximum potential profits of $2.71 per contract available in the event that shares slide 6.7% to settle at…
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Options Tactician Targets Southwestern Energy Co.
by Option Review - September 22nd, 2010 4:19 pm
Today’s tickers: SWN, XLE, FAST, NFLX, WU, ODP & SEH
SWN – Southwestern Energy Co. – Shares of the independent energy company engaged in natural gas and crude oil exploration, development and production increased as much as 1.6% at the start of the trading session to touch an intraday high of $32.60. Options trading on the stock took on a bullish slant after one strategist populated the January 2011 contract with a couple of interesting transactions. It looks like the investor sold a strangle and purchased in-the-money call options during the second half of the trading session. The options player purchased 10,000 in-the-money calls at the January 2011 $32 strike at an average premium of $2.795. At the same time, the trader initiated a short strangle, selling 15,000 calls at the January 2011 $36 strike for premium of $1.13 each, and shedding 15,000 puts at the lower January 2011 $29 strike at a premium of $1.30 apiece. Gross premium pocketed on the strangle amounts to $2.43 per contract. It seems the trader is looking for substantial albeit limited upside movement in Southwestern shares. The long call stance, in isolation, prepares him to make money if SWN’s shares rally above the breakeven price of $34.43 by January expiration. Meanwhile, the trader keeps the full premium pocketed on the sale of the strangle if shares trade within the boundaries of the $29/$36 strike prices through expiration day next year. The short strangle may be a financing vehicle aimed at reducing the cost of getting long the in-the-money calls. In this scenario, the investor is bullish on Southwestern Energy, but does not see shares exploding to the upside in the next 5 months to expiration.
XLE – Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF – The implementation of a ratio put spread on the energy ETF suggests one options strategist may be bracing for erosion in the price of the underlying shares through January 2011 expiration. Shares of the XLE, an exchange-traded fund designed to yield investment results that correspond to the price and yield performance of the Energy Select Sector of the S&P 500 Index, are lower by 0.75% to stand at $54.44 with approximately 40 minutes remaining before the closing bell. The put player appears to have purchased 11,500 lots at the January 2011 $50 strike for premium of $1.66 each, and sold 23,000 puts at the lower January 2011 $47 strike at…
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Goldman Sachs-Bulls with Butterfly Wings are at it Again
by Option Review - April 27th, 2010 5:22 pm
Today’s tickers: GS, WU, DSW, MGM, WMT, BAC, EEM, WLP, HD & MMM
GS – Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. – Goldman-optimists are once again employing bullish butterfly spreads on the stock in order to efficiently position themselves to profit from an eventual rebound in the investment banking firm’s share price. Goldman Sachs, one of the top tickers on our ‘most active by options volume’ market scanner, glowed green amid a sea of red today as its shares inched up 1.75% to $154.69 as of 3:20 pm (ET). The bullish butterfly spread initiated on GS this afternoon yields maximum benefits to the investor responsible for the transaction if shares of the underlying stock jump back up to $175.00 by October expiration. The parameters of this spread are a bit different than the larger-volume butterfly spread we reported on Monday afternoon, which prepared an investor to reap maximum profits should Goldman’s shares rally up to $160.00 by expiration day. Today’s transaction involved the purchase of 2,000 calls at the October $160 strike for an average premium of $12.80 apiece [wing 1], and the purchase of another 2,000 calls at the higher October $190 strike for $3.90 each [wing 2]. The body of the butterfly was established at the central October $175 strike where 4,000 calls were sold for $7.20 a-pop. Net premium paid for the spread amounts to $2.30 per contract. The net cost of the trade pales in comparison to maximum available profits of $12.70 per contract, which the trader pockets if Goldman’s shares surge 13% over the current price to settle at $175.00 at expiration. The butterfly-spreader starts to make money as long as shares of the underlying stock increase 4.9% to surpass the breakeven point to the upside at $162.30 ahead of October expiration.
WU – Western Union Co. – Shares of the world’s largest money-transfer business surged 9.25% to an intraday high of $19.57 after the firm posted first-quarter earnings of $0.30 per share, which satisfied average analyst forecasts. A couple of analysts raised target share price estimates for Western Union following the positive earnings report. WU’s target price was bumped up to $23 from $19 at Susquehanna, in addition to the move up to $21 from $18 at D.A. Davidson today. Western Union’s current CEO, Christina Gold, is also reportedly handing over the reins to the current COO, Hikmet Ersek, on September 1, 2010. One Western Union…
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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