/DX/Japar – Never got back in after my vaca but I do like it here (94 with tight stops below).
GE getting killed (down 5%) on weak outlook for oil and gas. Still:
Outlook: GE backed its full-year EPS forecast of $1.60-$1.70 on organic sales growth of 3% to 5%. But CFO Jeff Bornstein said EPS is trending to the bottom end of that $1.60-$1.70 range due to oil and gas weakness. The oil and gas industry has been weaker than expected with oil prices down in 2017. Customers are delaying purchases and hurting legacy businesses.
So $25/1.60 = 15.6 CURRENT p/e – people are simply out of their minds! And they pay a 3.5% dividend.
SVU/Jeff – Who can keep track of all these splits? So annoying!
IBM/Pstas – Actually, I'm supposed to talk to an IBM high-up about earnings but I have to do my homework first. The company is like a huge battleship in the middle of making a turn – its vulnerable while turning but, once it gets on the new course – it will be unstoppable.
There's really no one even close to them on R&D and it's not like FB or AMZN or even AAPL are going to pivot and challenge them. Samsung is really the only viable competitor and they have never been close. It's not sexy, but they make the stuff everything else runs on. Don't forget, they also invented the PC and they were right not to take it seriously as we are actually back to mainframes (cloud) now. That's IBM's problem, they are thinking and making moves decades ahead so current opportunities to make money often pass them by but, over time, they are a juggernaut.
This is the kind of stock I want in my grandchildren's portfolio! In fact, in the LTP, we have:
We're going to buy back the short $165 calls and roll the 10 2018 $140s ($10.60) to 20 2019 $130 ($21.30)/$150 ($10) bull call spreads at $11.30 and the puts are fine for now but happy to sell 5 more if we go lower.
As a new trade, the 10 2019 $130/150 bull call spreads at 11.30 ($11,300) with 5 short 2019 $130 puts at $10 ($5,000) is net $6,300 with a potential $13,700 (217%) upside potential at $160. That's a very nice trade for a blue-chip.
