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Posts Tagged ‘JCG’

Bears Leave Footprints in DSW, Inc. Put Options Ahead of Earnings

www.interactivebrokers.com

Today’s tickers: DSW, LNCR, VGZ, S, APOL, CAL & JCG

DSW – DSW, Inc. – Options traders are picking up put options on the footwear retailer ahead of the firm’s second-quarter earnings report, scheduled for release ahead of the opening bell on August 31, 2010. DSW’s shares fell 2.5% to $24.09 in late afternoon trading. Pessimistic players purchased approximately 3,400 put options at the October $22.5 strike for an average premium of $1.53 a-pop. Put buyers are poised to profit should DSW’s shares plummet 12.95% from the current price of $24.09 to breach the average breakeven point to the downside at $20.97 by expiration day in October. Options implied volatility on the stock is up 5.2% as of 3:30 pm ET.

LNCR – Lincare Holdings Inc. – The provider of oxygen and other respiratory therapy services popped up on our ‘hot by options volume’ market scanner today after bullish call buying was detected in the January 2011 contract. Lincare’s shares are up 0.50% to stand at $23.51 with just under 30 minutes remaining in the trading session. Investors positioning for substantial share price appreciation by expiration next year purchased roughly 1,100 calls at the January 2011 $27.5 strike for an average premium of $0.86 each. Call buyers at this strike make money if Lincare’s shares jump 20.6% to exceed the average breakeven price of $28.36 by expiration day. Bullishness spread to the higher January 2011 $30 strike where optimistic individuals scooped up more than 2,900 call options at an average premium of $0.45 apiece. Investors long the higher-strike contracts are prepared to accrue profits should LNCR’s shares surge 29.5% to trade above the effective breakeven price of $30.45 by expiration day next year. Lincare’s shares last traded above $30.45 back on July 1, 2010.

VGZ – Vista Gold Corp. – Bullish investors are mining for call options on the gold exploration and development company today, which suggests some traders expect Vista’s shares to head higher by the end of 2010. The Colorado-based company’s shares jumped 20.4% to touch an intraday high of $2.30. Investors in Vista Gold Corp. shares have had a fruitful month thus far. The stock is currently trading at a 76.9% premium over its July 28 low of $1.30 a share. Options strategists hoping to see the good times continue through to December expiration scooped up approximately 2,000 calls at the December $2.5 strike by shelling out…
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Massive Ratio Call Spread Established on Citigroup, Inc.

www.interactivebrokers.com

Today’s tickers: C, NOK, XLF, ETFC, TXT, GE, JPM, JCG, AMR, PRU & CAKE

C – Citigroup, Inc. – A large-volume ratio call spread enacted on Citigroup during the first half of the trading session suggests one big player is positioning for continued share price appreciation through July expiration. Citigroup’s shares gained as much as 6.6% earlier in the session to reach an intraday high of $4.03, but are currently up a more modest 2.65% on the day at $3.88 as of 3:55 pm (ET). The bullish investor paid a net premium of $0.19 per contract to purchase roughly 66,000 calls at the July $4.0 strike, and sell about 132,000 calls at the higher July $5.0 strike price. The spread positions the trader to make money above the breakeven price of $4.19 through July expiration. Maximum potential profits of $0.81 per contract pad the investor’s wallet if Citi’s shares jump 28.9% over the current price of $3.88 to settle at $5.00 at expiration.

NOK – Nokia Corp. – Options traders populating Nokia Corp. today sold in- and out-of-the-money calls on the world’s largest maker of mobile phones with shares of the underlying stock trading 2.35% lower to $9.99 with 40 minutes remaining ahead of the closing bell. Finland-based Nokia retained its ranking as one of the two greenest major electronics makers at Greenpeace International along with Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB. Call sellers roamed across several expiries on the mobile phone maker, spreading pessimistic sentiment along the way. Near-term bears doubting Nokia’s shares will rebound any time soon shed 6,700 calls at the June $10 strike to take in an average premium of $0.50 per contract. Approximately 8,300 calls were sold at the July $10 strike price for an average premium of $0.70 apiece. Investors selling the contracts keep the premium received as long as Nokia’s shares trade below $10.00 through expiration in June/July. Uber-pessimistic traders shed 3,700 in-the-money call options at the October $9.0 strike to take in an average premium of $1.67 per contract. Nokia’s shares must fall another 9.90% from the current price of $9.99 to breach the $9.00-level. In-the-money call sellers keep the premium if Nokia’s share price does not exceed $9.00 at expiration. Finally, bearish investors sold 5,600 calls at the October $10 strike for an average premium of $1.10 each, 4,800 calls at the October $11 strike for an average premium of $0.64 a-pop,…
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Option Trader Irons Out Bullish Risk Reversal on Vale

www.interactivebrokers.com

Today’s tickers: VALE, GLD, BKC, VIX, IYR, GPS, CTXS, JPM, JCG, BKC, & TIF

VALE – Vale S.A. – Iron ore producer, Vale, experienced a more than 2.5% rally in shares during the trading session to arrive at a new 52-week high of $29.64. A bullish risk reversal in the March 2010 contract today indicates at least one investor is positioning for continued upward movement in the price of VALE shares by expiration. The trader sold approximately 3,300 puts at the March 26 strike for an average premium of 1.29 apiece in order to finance the purchase of roughly 3,300 calls at the higher March 32 strike for 1.59 each. The net cost of the transaction amounts to 30 cents per contract and positions the investor to amass profits if shares surpass the breakeven price of $32.30 by expiration. Shares must jump at least 9% from the current price to breach the effective breakeven point on the trade.

GLD – SPDR Gold Trust ETF – Shares of the gold exchange-traded fund, which replicates the performance of the price of gold bullion, rose 1.5% today to yet another all-time high of $116.43. We observed bullish activity in the June 2010 contract by one investor who initiated a call spread on the fund. It appears the trader purchased 13,265 calls at the June 125 strike for an average premium of 5.95 each, spread against the sale of the same number of calls at the higher June 150 strike for 2.10 apiece. The net cost of the gold-spread amounts to 3.85 per contract. The investor responsible for the trade accumulates profits if shares rally 11% from the current price and surpass the breakeven point at $128.85. Maximum potential profits of 21.15 per contract are available to the trader in the event that shares of the GLD surge 29% to $150.00 by expiration day in June of 2010.

BKC – Burger King Holdings, Inc. – Burger King-bulls bought nearly 4,700 calls at the in-the-money December 17.5 strike for an average premium of 50 cents apiece. Such activity suggests investors expect shares to rally through $18.00 – the breakeven point on the calls – by expiration in December. Bullish sentiment on the flame-broiled burger maker is perhaps inspired by strength in the fast-food restaurant sector. Cash-strapped consumers, wary of the 10.2% unemployment rate, are likely trading down from moderately priced eateries to cheaper nosh provided…
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Microsoft options looking bullish

www.interactivebrokers.com

Today’s tickers: MSFT, XLF, VRTX, X, MT, TIF, JCG & AIG

MSFT Microsoft Corporation – Some option traders laughed in the face of a 2% decline in MSFT’s shares and were seen making some bullish plays on the stock which currently stands at $19.16. One trade of note was the sale of 5,000 puts at the July 17 strike price for a premium of 90 cents apiece spread against the purchase of 5,000 calls at the July 22 strike price for 74 cents each. This optimistic investor accepts a 16 cent credit on the trade and appears to be looking for shares to rally by about 19% through the breakeven point at $22.74 by expiration. Other bullish investors selected the July 23 strike price where more than 11,000 calls were purchased for an average premium of 44 cents per contract.

XLF Financial Select Sector SPDR – Shares of the XLF have plunged more than 5% to $10.50 today. However, we observed one options investor looking for a recovery in financials by September’s expiry. The financials ETF was one of the top tickers on our ‘most active by options volume’ market scanner with more than 406,000 contracts traded throughout the day. The trade we chose to highlight involved the purchase of 20,000 puts at the September 8.0 strike price for 80 cents apiece spread against the sale of 10,000 puts sold for a premium of 2.79 per contract. This ratio spread yields a credit of 1.19 to the trader (2.79*1 – 0.80*2 = 1.19). The investor will retain the full credit if shares rise through $12.00 by expiration in September. The purchase of twice as many puts at the lower 8.0 strike price serves to cap the investor’s losses at a maximum of 2.81 should shares continue to fall all the way to $8.00 by expiration.

VRTX Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. – The pharmaceuticals company has seen its shares give back gains experienced earlier in the trading day, and is currently off by less than 1% to stand at $27.10. Option implied volatility has jumped from 72% yesterday to the current value of 82% amid unconfirmed rumors reported by one source that Johnson & Johnson may be eyeing VRTX. Option traders took bullish stances on the company by purchasing calls in the April and May contracts. The in-the-money April 25 strike price had 1,100 calls bought for 3.27 apiece, while the April…
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Phil's Favorites

Jobless Claims Improve, Leading Indicators Decline: Economic Report Card

Courtesy of John Nyaradi.

Jobless claims improve while leading indicators decline in today’s economic report card

by Wall Street Sector Selector Staff

Weekly jobless claims declined to 424,000 from last week’s 432, 000 but stubbornly stayed above the all important 400,000 level for another week.

August Leading Indicators came in at +0.3% compared to 0.5% for July, as the economy continues registering weakness.

Good news came from July Home Prices which rose to +0.8% from the previously reported +0.7%.

But the biggest economic news of the week came yesterday when the Federal Reserve said it saw  “significant downside risks to the economic outlook, including strains in global financial markets.”

Global stock markets responded negatively yesterday an...



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Insider Scoop

Priceline.com Trades Higher on Q1 Earnings Results (PCLN)

Courtesy of Benzinga

Shares of Priceline.com Incorporated (NASDAQ: PCLN) are trading higher in the after-hours following the release of its Q1 earnings results. Currently, shares are up 2.74%, trading at $548.60; they closed the regular session down 0.67 %, at $533.97.

The company said that its Q1 EPS came in at $2.66 on revenues of $809.3 million; this compares to the Street's estimate of $2.46 per share on revenues of $779.5 million. Revenues rose 38.6% year over year.

"In the 1st quarter, the Group benefited from strong growth in our global hotel business, particularly at Booking.com and Agoda," said Jeffery H. Boyd, Priceline President and Chief Executive Officer.

He added, "Room nights booked grew by 55.8% and our international gross bookings grew by 79% compared to prior year...



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Zero Hedge

Fukushima Explosion Update: Core Presumed Intact As Sea Water Used To Bring Temperature Down, Radiation Level At 1015 Microsieverts/Hour

Courtesy of Tyler Durden

The damage control to the Fukushima explosion reported earlier is coming fast and furious. According to CNN, "the explosion at an earthquake-damaged nuclear plant was not caused by damage to the nuclear reactor but by a pumping system that failed as crews tried to bring the reactor's temperature down, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Saturday. The next step for workers at the Fukushima Daiichi plant will be to flood the reactor containment structure with sea water to bring the reactor's temperature down to safe levels, he said. The effort is expected to take two days." While the government is trying to play down the threat from the explosion, it has nonetheless double the evacuation zone radius from 10 to 20 kilometers: "Radiation levels have fallen since the explosion and there is no immediate danger, Edano said. But authorities were nevertheless expanding the evacuation ...



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Chart School

The Mega-Bear Quartet and L-Shaped "Recoveries"

Courtesy of Doug Short

Note from dshort: I retired this chart series last summer in deference to my prefered inflation-adjusted series that aligns the S&P 500 2000 high with the Nikkei peak in 1989. However, I continue to receive requests for this version, despite the "V" shape of the the recovery since the March 2009 low. This chart series overlays the current S&P 500 with the L-shaped "recoveries" after the Dow Crash of 1929, the Nikkei 225 after Japan's 1989 bubble, and the post Tech Bubble NASDAQ. Click the chart below for a larger version and use the links to see various comparisons.


Click for a larger image

I've ...



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Sabrient

Sabrient Risers - 3/12/2011

Top 5 RisersStockRatingAnalysisVLOSTRONGBUYAn increasingly positive growth rate of past earnings, along with improving expectations for long term growth, make Valero a good prospect for high returns.KROSTRONGBUYKronos Worldwide has been gaining recognition from analysts as a good canditate for achieving higher than expected earnings along with higher overall projected valuation.SFIBUYiStar is one of the top candidates projected to achieve both higher than previously projected earnings in the short run and a higher earnings growth rate in the long run.AMATSTRONGBUYApplied Materials has been...

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Option Review

Bulls Scoop Up Sprint Nextel Corp. Calls

 Today’s tickers: S, FTR, JTX & SBUX

...



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OpTrader

Swing trading portfolio - week of March 7th, 2011

This post is for live trades and daily comments. Please click on "comments" below to follow our live discussion. All of our current virtual trades are listed in the spreadsheet below, with entry price (1/2 in and All in), and exit prices (1/3 out, 2/3 out, and All out).

We also indicate our stop, which is most of the time the "5 day moving average". All trades, unless indicated, are front-month ATM options. 

Please feel free to participate in the discussion and ask any questions you might have about this portfolio, by clicking on the "comments" link right below.

To learn more about the swing trading portfolio (strategy, performance, FAQ, etc.), please click here

Optrader 

Swing trading portfolio

 

One trade portfolio

...

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Stock World Weekly

Stock World Weekly

Here's the newest Stock World Weekly:  Illusion Based on a Fantasy 

Comments welcome... share your thoughts. 

Download Newsletter 3/6/11


Stock World Weekly archives here >

...

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Pharmboy

Biotech Junkies Update and Momenta Pharma Moving Forward

February is now past, and the Biotech Porfolio is loaded with winners and a miss (PLX).  MRK is down a bit, but I expect that trade to recover, and one could be more agressive and double down on it, or play another round at the Jan13 $30 options for roughly the same price.  Below is the summary, and note the grey boxes are ones that did not fill.  I am still a fan of BMRN, and like DEPO as well.  Now let's look at a few others.

Table 1.  PSW Biotech Plays Since January 2011

 

Our newest play is Momenta Pharmaceuticals (MNTA), who is pursuing a three-part business model which includes complex generic equivalents in partnership with the Sandoz division of Novartis, proprietary compounds, and follow-on- biologics (FOB).  It seems that this company is tied up in competition/litigation wit...



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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...

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