This morning, Google has fallen roughly by $10 and this completes our journey on the earnings on Google, making this 4th trade also positive. I am now in positive zone. If by Feb expiration, google remain below or where it is i.e. $471 I will be making a good deal of profit on this. I shall post details, once I close the trade. Till then,

Profitable trading,

OptionPundit

There are few special things about this week. Firstly let’s talk about “monthly income”, it’s great time to open some income trades i.e. those lovely condors, double diagonals, etc. But before opening, here are couple of things that I would like to keep in mind –

1. I need to select appropriate partner (underlying) I would like to dance with
2. I need to get good credit (this is an art more than science)
3. I would like to keep in mind that broad market is trending, and trending markets aren’t good friends for income traders. So I need to devise a plan that can take care of the trend. (markets are rather breaking-out to be precise)

Choose your partner carefully, there are many beautiful underlying(s) e.g. RUT, SPX, OEX, etc.

Now let’s talk about that “minority” i.e. speculative trades for my portfolio. There are several companies that are announcing results this week and move a lot, I mean MOVE A LOT to give one good money. Some of the name are - CTSH, LVS, PPDI, BOBJ, WIRE, AFFX, APOL, CI, AET, BRCM, ESRX, PNRA, NVT, BG and of course hot MasterCard MA. Though past performance doesn’t mean it will happen in future, but sometime it provides valuable hints.

When you profit, don’t forget to buy valentine gifts over this weekend for your sweet ones.

Profitable trading, OptionPundit

The little book that beats the market.

I first mentioned about this book in my posting here on Jan 20, 2007. Let me briefly talk about why I think this is a great book and how I would like to use it for option trading. As per the screening on Feb 3, for >100million market cap, Fording Canadian Coal Trust (FDG) is amongst one of the TOP 25 companies. Here are the key points about FDG:

• Market Cap > $3.3 billion
• Pre-Tax Earnings Yield : 20%
• Return on Capital (ROC) > 100%

I didn’t penetrate into further details on how these numbers are calculated but I am assuming that system works and it’s correct. Though past performance is not indicative of future, just look at the past 5yr chart of the company.

 

Let’s dive in how to use it- According to Magic formula investing (The little book that beats the market) I shall assume that over a period of time, the price should go up assuming fundamentals, yields remains same. If I buy either diagonal leaps spread or calendars, I should be able to create something that will give me gains from Theta or delta. So Here I created 3 calendar spreads of $20/$22.5/$25 for $270 investment.

And Look at the beauty of this trade, depending upon where FDG is by Feb expiration your returns may vary from $40 to $98 on $270 investment. And mind it, this is only 1 month. You can continue to benefit from this till next year.

Simple concept, difficult to manage. One need to understands Option greeks and adjustments to manage the trade. Those are the key points that one needs to understand thoroughly before enjoying this so that you don’t lose money. However, my point here was to show how this book can be used. One needs to read through it to understand better the foundation of “stock screen” for this strategy.

Enjoy experimenting,

Profitable trading,
OptionPundit

Investment Strategy, Magic formula investing