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Monday, November 30th, 2009
1:00pm (EST)
It’s been another battle today as both bulls and bears struggle to gain momentum. The Dow opened with a slight loss and traded to a low of 10,273 before bouncing back and touching a high of 10,364. As Wall Street gets ready for the 2nd half of today’s action, the Dow is currently down 30 points to 10,280.
The market got a lift after the November Chicago PMI came in at 56.1, which was better than the 53 estimate that had been expected and is up from the 54.2 number we got last month. It looks like business activity in the U.S. Midwest is picking up.
As far as specific stocks we are following today…
Dendreon (DNDN, $27.33, up $0.09), which is frequently mentioned here at MomentumOptionsTrading.com, is getting a little bump today on rumors that AstraZeneca (AZN, $44.59, down $0.70) is looking at acquiring the company for $40 a share. We have been following this stock for nearly three years now and we have repeatedly said that we think Dendreon is a takeover candidate.
We have also mentioned the market potential of the company’s Provenge drug could be as high as $2.5 billion. The company will also host an Investor Conference on Tuesday from London. Hmmm…it’s too early to draw conclusions but the CEO himself has said they are looking to partner with someone overseas.
Other water-cooler talk we are hearing…Illumina (ILMN, $28.56, down $0.06) could be on Johnson & Johnson’s (JNJ, $62.57, down $0.32) list as an acquisition target. There are rumblings that JNJ could offer up to $38 a share for the company. Illumina has been a potential takeover target for months now and there are several firms on Wall Street who believe the same thing.
It looks like we missed the big move in American International Group (AIG, $29.30, down $4.00) this morning. We have a history with this company as well. In July, we profiled two bearish trades in AIG that made our subscribers 70% and 130%, respectively, on put options. We have been hesitant to go back to the well because of the volatility and the fact that the stock had been making new highs. In August the stock traded to a high of $55.
We had noticed the consolidation in the $35 area recently but today’s break below $30 has our attention. Today’s 12% drop in the shares have been a windfall for option traders. We think there could be further weakness and we take a look at some put options in the Members Area that are up a whopping 360% today!
Tags: American International Group, AstraZeneca, Dendreon, Illumina, momentum stock option trading, option trading online, option trading picks, options mentoring, options newsletters, options track record, support and resistance levels, triple-digit option trades
Posted in Company Commentary, Market Analysis, Trading Tips, Watch Lists | Comments Off
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009
9:00am (EST)
To quote a famous football coach of the Green Bay Packers back in the day…
“What the hell is going on around here?”…
We did a big write-up on A123 Systems (AONE, $17.09, up $2.56) yesterday at 12:45pm when the stock was at $14.75 and shortly after 1pm the stock started soaring. There was no specific news so we are not sure of why the shares surged 17% after we profiled the company.
We did NOT list any call options but if you looked up the stock quote shortly after our update then please email us and say you were able to get into the December 17.50 calls (ZKQLW, $0.95, up $0.80) at lower prices.
Folks, these call options OPENED at 20 cents and traded to a low of 15 cents before ZOOMING over 500% yesterday! The option activity was brisk as nearly 5,000 contracts traded hands. Incredible.
We wish we could take credit for the trade and maybe it was our loyal readers who started to take positions but again, we didn’t list these options as a trade. The only “catalyst” out there could be the news that U.S. electric sports car maker Tesla Motors plans to go public soon.
In any event, we were thisclose to hitting a homerun this week but keep an eye on these call options. We still don’t know where they will end up but consider it a free trade if it does well from here (sly grin). If the stock falls back to $14 then maybe we ”strangle” it with an option trade to capture the volatility for some nice profits.
We have been trying to catch A123 but the price action is hard to predict given the shares have only been trading for a few months. The company’s stock climbed to nearly $20 on the first day of trading (September 24th), a 45% increase from its IPO price of $14. Two weeks later, it made a high of $28.20.
These are the types of stocks we LOVE to trade but we have to be careful with the swings.
Breaking economic news…
Weekly Jobless claims dropped 35,000 for the week ending 11/21 to 466,000, October personal income was up 0.2% and personal spending was up 0.7%. One negative was the durable goods order which came in at -0.6%.
Futures were already higher before the rash of economic news and held up strong following the reports. Dow futures are currently up 63 points to 10,468 while the S&P 500 futures are up 7 to 1,110. Nasdaq 100 futures are up 10 1,796.
We do profile a NEW TRADE this morning and we like its potential for a double. The trade is a play on the housing sector. Current subscribers, please check the Members Area NOW for the trade updates as well…
Tags: A123 Systems, American International Group, Apple, momentum stock option trading, Moody’s, Netflix, option trading online, option trading picks, options mentoring, options newsletters, options track record, support and resistance levels, triple-digit option trades
Posted in Company Commentary, Hot Stocks, Market Analysis, Option Trades | Comments Off
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
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.
Tags: A123 Systems, American International Group, Apple, momentum stock option trading, Moody's, Netflix, option trading online, option trading picks, options mentoring, options newsletters, options track record, support and resistance levels, triple-digit option trades
Posted in Apple, Company Commentary, Earnings, Financial Stocks, Market Analysis, Market Commentary, Option Trades, Sectors, strangle option trades, Strategies, Trading Psychology | Comments Off
Wednesday, September 9th, 2009
9:00am (EST)
American International Group (AIG, $35.45, down $4.20) fell 10% yesterday after a Credit Suisse analyst downgraded the stock from “Neutral” to “Underperform”. Their research pointed to the fact that “near term monetization of value of businesses suggests little to no value for common equity.”
For those of you who have followed me for a while know I profiled a monster put option trade in AIG last year that returned over 850%. The stock was at $20 on August 26th, 2008 and by September 15th, the stock was at $4. The next day AIG hit a low of $1.25.
Because I have followed the stock for years, I know how to take advantage of the market’s love affair for the shares. I have been saying since that 2008 Blog that AIG was a dog.
To make a long story short, AIG was under a buck when it did the 1-for-20 stock split back in July. I profiled two put options on July 8th that returned 71% and 132%, respectively, as AIG fell back below $10.
I saw another opportunity for a strangle option trade last month:
On August 20th here were my thoughts with that day’s option price:
“American International Group (AIG, $33.49, up $6.85) is up 25% today and it’s hard to believe the stock has rebounded from a low of $13 since the beginning of August. Incredible. The September 35 calls (IKJII, $4.10, up $3.05) have soared nearly 300% after opening at $1.22. There is a combination of a lot of things going on with AIG right now and although I don’t trust this dog to go long, there may be a chance for a STRANGLE option trade. The September 25 puts (AIGUY, $1.65, down $1.05) have dropped 40%.
The stock is up on some CEO fluff who believes he can “maintain shareholder value”. Good grief. Give me break. He failed to mention that his company did a 20-to1 reverse stock split and right now the shorts are getting hammered. I’m going to do some more research on this one but a strangle trade is when you play both sides of the ball hoping for a big move.” (END)
A week later on August 27th, I gave two updates on AIG and had this to say about the AIG call options. This was before the market opened that day:
“If AIG continues to shoot to the moon then the calls will continue to go higher and they could triple again if AIG goes to $50. They would be worth $15.” (END)
This was the afternoon blog:
“AIG has hit $50 today and is currently up 30%. The call options I’m talking about are the September 35 calls (IKGII, $15.00, up $9.55) which closed yesterday at $5.45. As Biggie Smalls would say..”It Was All a Dream”…but this dream has come true. Bam, The September 35’s are right at $15, up 175%. Folks, they opened at $7.50 and have doubled.” (END)
One day later on the 28th:
“As far as specific stocks, make sure you close the AIG (AIG, $49.81, up $1.97) call options today. The stock hit a high of $55.90 this morning which represented the perfect opportunity to sell the September 35 calls (IKGII, $15.80, up $1.70) which printed $21.00 today. ” (END)
The total return for the call side of the strangle trade would have been 400% from $4 to $20. The point is you would have made more than enough to cover the put side of the option trade even if it expires worthless!
Now, the September 25 puts (AIGUY, $0.55, up $0.20) were picked up for $1.65 so they are still DOWN 67% but they gained over 55% yesterday. With yesterday’s downgrade, these put options have a chance of making it back to the entry price and who knows? You may even be able to squeeze out a profit on this side of the trade as well.
The total cost of the trade would have been $5.75 ($4.10 for the calls and $1.65 for the puts. If you sold the calls at $20 and sell the puts for 50 cents or $1.00 then you are still looking at a return of over 400%!
I know that was long winded and it probably made for some good bathroom reading material but I wanted to review this trade to show some of our new subscribers how strangle trades really work.
My question is, where was Credit Suisse when the stock was at $55?
Once you follow a stock and learn how it trades, how it reacts to news and if it’s overvalued or undervalued; you will then learn how to find some really nice trades. There are other high-flying stocks that make great strangle candidates but you still have to do the homework and find the right options.
Tags: AIG, American International Group
Posted in Company Commentary, Option Trades | Comments Off
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009
9:10am (EST)
Futures are up slightly lower as we get ready for this morning’s trading action. Yesterday, the bears ruled Wall Street and it looks like they could get the ball first this morning. Dow futures are down 25 points to 9,278 while the Nasdaq futures are lower by 4.5 points, to 1,591. S&P futures are down by 3.5 points and are at 993 as we head towards the opening bell.
There are a couple of “winners” and “losers” I want to talk about this morning but neither stock is worth owning.
Well, if you didn’t think American International Group (AIG, $36.00) had iny big moves left in it you were wrong. I profiled this stock all last week and how it had made an incredible move from $13 to $50 in August. I also mentioned to close the September 35 calls (IKGII, $5.05) on Friday when they were at $15.80 and had touched a high of $21 for the day. Look at them now.
The September 25 puts (AIGUY, $1.15) were trading for 40 cents last Friday and have jumped nearly 200% since. I told you these kind of strangle trades can be a monster if you manage them correctly. AIG is down $2.12, to $33.88, in pre-market trading.
It seems there are quite a few “famous” or “infamous” names on the “stocks for under $5″ list. It looks like there is another one trying to rise from the ashes of past glory days.
Vonage (VG, $1.43) was up 45%, to $2.05, in the after-hours last night after it said Apple (AAPL, $165.30) has approved its mobile application for the iPhone and iPod Touch. This news was not a surprise when the stock was at 60 cents but the easy money has already been made.
Don’t chase Vonage. The stock is up 70 cents to $2.13 in early action.
The Members Area has all of our current trades and if you are a subscriber, please check the updates for this morning. We got off to a good start with First Solar (FSLR, $114.98) yesterday.
Tags: AAPL, AIG, American International Group, options trading strategies, VG, Vonage
Posted in Market Commentary, Option Trades | Comments Off
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Dendreon Rumors Making Rounds Again
Monday, November 30th, 2009
1:00pm (EST)
It’s been another battle today as both bulls and bears struggle to gain momentum. The Dow opened with a slight loss and traded to a low of 10,273 before bouncing back and touching a high of 10,364. As Wall Street gets ready for the 2nd half of today’s action, the Dow is currently down 30 points to 10,280.
The market got a lift after the November Chicago PMI came in at 56.1, which was better than the 53 estimate that had been expected and is up from the 54.2 number we got last month. It looks like business activity in the U.S. Midwest is picking up.
As far as specific stocks we are following today…
Dendreon (DNDN, $27.33, up $0.09), which is frequently mentioned here at MomentumOptionsTrading.com, is getting a little bump today on rumors that AstraZeneca (AZN, $44.59, down $0.70) is looking at acquiring the company for $40 a share. We have been following this stock for nearly three years now and we have repeatedly said that we think Dendreon is a takeover candidate.
We have also mentioned the market potential of the company’s Provenge drug could be as high as $2.5 billion. The company will also host an Investor Conference on Tuesday from London. Hmmm…it’s too early to draw conclusions but the CEO himself has said they are looking to partner with someone overseas.
Other water-cooler talk we are hearing…Illumina (ILMN, $28.56, down $0.06) could be on Johnson & Johnson’s (JNJ, $62.57, down $0.32) list as an acquisition target. There are rumblings that JNJ could offer up to $38 a share for the company. Illumina has been a potential takeover target for months now and there are several firms on Wall Street who believe the same thing.
It looks like we missed the big move in American International Group (AIG, $29.30, down $4.00) this morning. We have a history with this company as well. In July, we profiled two bearish trades in AIG that made our subscribers 70% and 130%, respectively, on put options. We have been hesitant to go back to the well because of the volatility and the fact that the stock had been making new highs. In August the stock traded to a high of $55.
We had noticed the consolidation in the $35 area recently but today’s break below $30 has our attention. Today’s 12% drop in the shares have been a windfall for option traders. We think there could be further weakness and we take a look at some put options in the Members Area that are up a whopping 360% today!
Tags: American International Group, AstraZeneca, Dendreon, Illumina, momentum stock option trading, option trading online, option trading picks, options mentoring, options newsletters, options track record, support and resistance levels, triple-digit option trades
Posted in Company Commentary, Market Analysis, Trading Tips, Watch Lists | Comments Off