by Option Review - November 23rd, 2011 1:16 pm
Today’s tickers: JPM, BCS, ARCC & YGE
Commentary to resume Monday, November 28th
JPM - JPMorgan Chase & Co. – JPMorgan blends in with the sea of red today, its shares trading lower by 3.2% to stand at $28.48, as of 11:55 AM in New York. But, fresh prints in weekly options covering the banking institution reveal some strategists are initiating low-probability bullish positions on the stock should shares rebound after the holiday. Call options expiring on Friday saw an influx of buyers paying as little as a penny per contract to prepare for a near-term rebound. Trading traffic in the front-week calls is heaviest at the Nov. ’25 $29 strike where more than 7,600 contracts changed hands against previously existing open interest of 340 positions. It looks like most of these calls were purchased for an average premium of $0.30 apiece. Investors long the calls may profit at expiration this week in the event that JPM’s shares rally 2.9% to exceed the average breakeven point at $29.30. Traders also purchased another 1,000 calls at each of the Nov. $30 and $31 strikes for average premiums of $0.06 and $0.01 each, respectively. Meanwhile, like-minded optimism appears to have spread out to contracts that expire one week from this Friday. Investors itching for a rebound picked up around 1,500 in-the-money calls at the Dec. ’02 $28 strike for an average premium of $1.28 a-pop. Call buyers make money if shares in JPMorgan Chase & Co. top the average breakeven price of $29.28 at expiration on December 2. Options implied volatility on the stock rose 13.8% to 53.5% in early-afternoon trade.
BCS - Barclays PLC – A burst of call activity on Barclays pushed the stock onto our ‘most active by options volume’ market scanner just before midday in New York. The seemingly bullish call buying on Barclays contrasts with the 3.0% move lower in the price of its shares to $9.32 this afternoon. More than 30,000 call options changed hands at the Dec. $12 strike against open interest of 3,863 contracts. It appears one investor purchased most of the calls, outright, at a premium of $0.15 apiece. The trader stands ready to profit at expiration in the event that the stock jumps 30.4% to surpass the effective breakeven price of $12.15. Shares in Barclays had topped $12.15 as recently as November 4.
ARCC - Ares Capital Corp. – Put activity on Ares Capital Corp. this morning suggests…
Tags: ARCC, BCS, JPM, YGE
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by Option Review - February 17th, 2011 4:08 pm
Today’s tickers: VALE, BID, EBAY & YGE
VALE - Vale S.A. – Earlier we reported that a large-volume three-legged bearish transaction had taken place on iron ore producer, Vale. Market sources have since informed us that the direction of the trade is the reverse of what had been indicated by raw time and sales data. The new information regarding the transaction alters our interpretation of the spread to bullish from the previously reported bearish view. Shares in the Brazilian firm increased as much as 0.82% during the session to secure an intraday high of $35.60, but are currently trading 0.20% high on the session at $35.38 as of 2:50pm. The options investor responsible for most of the volume in options exchanged on Vale today reportedly sold a large number of puts on the stock in order to buy in- and out-of-the-money call options in the May contract. The investor paid a net $2.24 per contract, selling 23,000 May $30 strike puts in order to buy 11,500 May $35 strike calls and another 11,500 calls up at the May $40 strike. The transaction positions the trader to benefit from bullish movement in the price of the underlying shares heading into Vale’s fourth-quarter earnings report on February 24, 2011, through to expiration day in May.
BID - Sotheby’s Holdings Inc. – One options player pocketed big profits on a well-timed bullish bet in Sotheby’s calls this morning. The auctioneers’ shares are currently up 0.2% at $48.34 as of 11:30am in New York, but hit a 6-month high of $49.03 yesterday, driving the stock’s run up to 86.4% since August 31, 2010. The gavel-bearer populating Sotheby’s today initiated a bullish bet back on January 25, 2011, when shares in the name encountered a bump in rally-road and slipped to a three-month low of $38.23.…
Tags: BID, EBAY, VALE, YGE
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by ilene - June 30th, 2009 12:38 pm
Trader Mark comments on a few solar power companies, noting that they’re inadequately differentiated by American investors. Here are his thoughts.
Courtesy of Trader Mark at Fund My Mutual Fund
I’ve been a long time investor in the solar space (circa late 06) and one thing that has really irked me over the years is the complete lack of differentiation. Much like the market as a whole nowadays, its "all or nothing" in this space. The one exception has been First Solar (FSLR) – an American "thin film" (different technology than most solar companies) producer. The Chinese names have especially all been thrown together in one pot and when its time to run up solar, they all go up together (in varying degrees) and when solar is out of favor they all get pole axed. Hence doing any due diligence is really a waste of time.
Yingli Green Energy (YGE) and a company that has cost me many real (and virtual) dollars over the years, Trina Solar (TSL) are 2 of the Chinese solar markets with good size, and the most integrated production models. This should have differentiated them over the years – but as I said above, not in American investors eyes. We like "big easy to understand, sweeping themes" – i.e. oil up, solar good. And that’s as comprehensive as it seems to get.
We are seeing some nice action in both these names today, on the back of an analyst report which is alluding to the advantages the two companies have. Now that silicon (which is the main cost component on the material side) has swooned after bottlenecks plagued the industry for 3+ years, the other main cost is labor. And you are not going to compete with the Chinese on labor costs…
- Both Trina Solar (TSL) and Yingli Green Energy (YGE) shares are trading higher today following upgrades by Morgan Stanley analyst Sunil Gupta. He thinks both companies are going to take market share in the solar sector from U.S.-based and European rivals. Here are the details
- Trina:
…
Tags: CHINA, First Solar, FSLR, Solar companies, Trina Solar, TSL, YGE, Yingli Green Energy
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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
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