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Bulls Fighting Back

12:45pm (EST)

The market is has come off its morning lows but is still in negative territory for the day.  The China news really put a damper on yesterday’s rally.  The Chinese banks were pressured by concerns of capital-raises and some regulators want higher capital ratios.  

As a result, the Dow is currently down 44 points to 10,406 and the S&P 500 is off by 3 to 1,103.  The Nasdaq is lower by 11 points to 2,164.

All of the Financial stocks on our Watch List are mostly lower.  These stocks have been tricky to trade which is why we are waiting for the storm to pass.  We made some great returns when they bottomed in March and reported back-to-back solid quarters but we are in transition with them right now. 

We haven’t shorted the Financials either although there are a few that we still think are due for major corrections…American International Group (AIG, $34.37, down $0.91) is still over-inflated and should be a single-digit stock as well as Moody’s (MCO, $23.64, up $0.67).  Patience will pay-off as we feel both of these stocks are headed lower at some point in the future.

Another stock we were/ are looking at is a possible option trade in A123 Systems (AONE, $14.75, up $0.22).  We did a big write-up on October 21st and we simply blew this one folks.  The stock was at $24 and now stands at $14.  The straddle option trade would have been a thing of beauty and we do use them every now and again.  We are bullish on A123’s long-term prospects but a spat a bad news has investors bailing like rats on a ship.  Here we our thoughts a month ago: 

“A123 Systems (AONE, $24.63, up $0.11) is the one we want to start watching…like a hawk.  Its 52-week high is $28.20.

A few things we like to see are volume and volatility and this stock has both.  The average daily volume is over 5 million shares and the option pits are pretty liquid. 

The company makes lithium-ion batteries and had high hopes over a year ago as they thought they were closing in on a Chevy Volt contract but eventually lost out.  However, they signed a deal to supply Chrysler with batteries for its cars. And the market for these types of batteries is HUGE. 

Besides cars, think smartphones and other products…every iPod, iPhone and Apple laptop has a lithium-ion battery.  The “new” battery is smaller, more energy efficient, longer lasting, and are effectively replacing the previous generation of nickel metal hydride batteries.

Of course, there is competition in the space but with other car manufacturers joining the race for electric cars, and the transition over to these batteries have dramatically improved the potential market.  However, many other would-be competitors have not even begun mass production yet which will play into A123’s hand once demand starts to peak.

A123 will likely play a big role for temporary energy storage for utilities and they were recently awarded a $250 million grant from the Department of Energy to build a manufacturing plant.

On the negative side, the stock could see some selling pressure once their “lock-up period” is up.  Typically, when a company goes public, its insiders can’t sell their shares for a certain period of time which is usually 90 days to a year.  If a company is full of smoke-and-mirrors or has some skeletons in its closet, company insiders who know about them can’t act on this “inside” knowledge until after the lock-up period has ended.  They will start to sell stock before the public learns of any bad news hoping to get out at the top.

Now, I’m not saying A123 is shady or anything, I’m just explaining how the IPO market works.

A123 appears to be a boom or bust company and from the way it has been trading it has become clear there is action in the stock.  The key for us will be to watch for an opportunity to get into some options.  We might go long, we might go short, or we might do a straddle or strangle trade.  However, we have to wait for our opportunity.

Keep this one on your Watch List and when we see a trade, we will alert our subscribers.” (END)

Well, the “hawk” left its perch and we didn’t get into a trade.  Bummer.  

We are excited about the possibilities of an Apple (AAPL, $204.12, down $1.76) deal in the future but the company has been hit with some bad news of late that has caused a steep drop in its shares. 

Fiat recently tinkered with Chrysler’s electric car plans which included A123’s batteries and this has caused some concerns due to the uncertainty. The company also recently announced earnings and posted a $23 million loss but did see an increase in revenue.

On the bright side, electric cars are the future and there is a major push for their development.  President Barack Obama’s recent China visit was a good indication that things will happen sooner rather than later.  He has called for the U.S.-China Electric Vehicles Initiative to help get the snowball rolling.

We are still uncertain of the direction A123 Systems shares take from here but we would think most of the “bad” news is already priced into the stock. 

Only time will tell if electric cars will turn into an avalanche for the American consumer but if you can identify the companies that have their fingers in the pie before it is main stream then there may be some opportunities down the road.

Which brings up a good point. 

Most of you know we are working hard to get the “Momentum Options Trading” Playbook (or whatever we call it) ready and it is our trading manual that is aimed at teaching you how to trade options and to find your own trades.  The manual will go hand-in-hand with the website and we really believe it is a must read if you really want to understand the market and to get a better “feel” for our trades.

Yes, we are an option trading service but we also want to be your mentor as well.  We have repeatedly said we will limit the number of subscribers we are allowing because we don’t want our trades crowded but we also want you to LEARN how to trade options.  We have a success rate of 80% on our trades and it isn’t by accident. 

We hope that you seriously consider a subscription before we are full.  We cover a lot of things outside of the Members Area but today we wanted to bring you a short story on A123 Systems.

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Trader Comments:

    LAWRENCE O.
    Hey Rick! Here is an update on what your picks have done in my accounts.

    1) Great call on the JoyG March 55. I bought when you said, then bought again on one of the dips. Booked 80+% profit. Made enough to pay for your service for years to come.

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    I see that you took a loss on some of these. It’s all good. I look to trade your “ideas” not your exact calls. I THANK YOU! For your ideas and commentary. Keep up the good work. And keep those ideas coming.

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    Loving this subscription so far! I got into the BRK feb 76 calls the day you talked about right before the split...now up over 300% (0.70 to 2.475)! Keep the good picks coming and let's see some OSIS and EMC upside soon! Just wanted to share my positive enthusiasm on your newsletter...it gives us individual investors great ideas on not only the options market, but also the broader equity market! Case in point is BRK...I can't always read the breaking business news but its easy to read your twice daily updates on my smartphone...helped me get some BRK shares immediately after the split which I will hold for the long haul! Thanks again!

    SHAUN
    Aloha Rick - Thank you so much for the great CL pick. I am not sure if there was buy-out/merger news or what but at 3PM today Colgate-Palmolive absolutely EXPLODED to the upside, and my calls turned into green candy when they went from 1.40 to 3.8 in a matter of seconds! I even sold a few for over 4.0! Much thanks and keep the solid picks up my friend, honestly. Only a fool would scoff at 267% gains... Peace!

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    What a sweet way to get introduced to Momentum. My first trade based on your picks and it a 2X. Thank you!

    NOEL
    “Limit order was set at 1.60 on RIMM so it sold. I may have left some money on the table but you can't go broke making a profit. That was a fun trade. Thank you. Good call. I’ve been watching and trading Rick's advice since March. It’s usually a fun ride, but I give him heck when it's wrong to. :) ”

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    KEN
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    GARETT
    “Hi Rick, thanks for the encouragement to play the dendreon calls! did freaking great! Got in the first lot at $1.44 on 3-24-09, sold at $2.45, 70% not bad. Bought it back at $2.30 on 4-7-09 closed out on 4-14-09 for 454% gain! Wow! I love it when that happens. So, thanks the encouragement to get back in when others were saying sell, sell, sell. Keep up the good work.”

    TERENCE
    “Rick – Thanks for Dendreon – it has made all the headlines today! I missed on RIMM earlier, but I’ve been holding onto DNDN calls since 3rd week March. Of course today it all paid off today, as DNDN rocketed up.”