Bull Market Turns Green in Late Trade!! Visa Call Options Active Ahead of Earnings! By: Tim Bolger

After being in the red most of the day, all of the major U.S. stock indexes turn Green in late trade…The Bulls are in control of this market and stocks continue to grind higher.  Apple(AAPL) is hitting another record high stock price, with an intraday high of $475.15.  Yup, Aapl is approaching a market capitalization of 1/2 trillion U.S. Dollars…and that Tech giant is amazing!! Stock runs to $550 in 2012 in my opinion.  Sorry Exxon Mobile…

Visa(V) reports after the bell and I am long the V $110 and $115 strike Feb 17, 2012 Call Options into earnings. Attached is the Feb 17, 2012 V Options Chains courtesy of Yahoo Finance: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/op?s=V+Options.  Check out the volume on the Feb 17, 2012 $110 and $115 strike V Call Options and prices jumping ahead of earnings today after the bell!! I took some profits off the table earlier today on a few of my Visa options contracts and I am hoping for a big earnings beat!! Visa is rallying this afternoon around 1% and the stock is approaching a record high price. I think V could run to $150 a share in 2012 and I am hopeful for an upbeat full year 2012 earnings and revenue guidance that beats the street expectations after the bell!! Keep an eye on BAC, GS, JPM, GNW, and C. All of these financial stocks are set to fly in 2012 and still have huge upside potential…Stay tuned for more of the Options and Market buzz at Optionshoney.com. See below a ten day chart on V courtesy of Fidelity Investments:

Rare Earth Miners Continue Rally!! Lynas Corp and General Molycorp Soaring!! Options?? By: Tim Bolger

A little over a week ago, I posted on Optionshoney https://optionshoney.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/rare-earth-miners-up-big-in-late-trade-options-active-on-molycorp-and-avalon-rare-metals-by-tim-bolger/my bullish view on a number of Rare Earth Miners that were my top picks for 2012 and I argued that they could trend much higher following the blow-out quarter of Apple earnings.  To reiterate, my favorite investment picks in the rare earth space are Avalon Rare Metals (AVL), General Molycorp (GMO), Molycorp (MCP), and Lynas Corp. (LYSDY.Pk).  Take a look at the ten day technical chart below courtesy of Fidelity Investments.  This move to the upside has meant big money for call options on GMO and AVL.  The $3 and $4 strike Call Options on AVL and GMO are rallying again today…The biggest move to the upside in the past days has been led by Australina Rare Earth Miner: Lynas Corp, which has soared over 25% in past ten days.

Ten day chart is courtesy of Fidelity Investments:

Rare Earth Miners Up Big in Late Trade!! Options Active on Molycorp and Avalon Rare Metals!! By: Tim Bolger

After a pullback the last few days, Rare earth miners are staging a late day rally.  Why is this happening? Several possibilities, including big Tech earnings by Apple. These rare earth minerals are vital for building technology products like the ipod, disk drives, Mp3 players etc.  Another very likely reason for the spike in shares is the Fed pledging this afternoon to keep interest rates at historic lows through late 2014…that is a formula that spells a weak U.S. dollar and rising metals prices to me…that all equals rapid inflation to me…Keep an eye on a few of my favorite stocks in the rare earth space, which include: Molycorp, Avalon Rare Metals, and Lynas Corp. Tickers MCP, AVL, and LYSDY.pk.  All of these stocks are up over 5.5% on big volume today. MCP is up over 7% and Lysdy.pk is spiking 10%…Show me the money honey!!!

 

Remember my previous post on buying the Call Options on AVL…that trade is still in full effect and I like the Call Options on Molycorp(MCP) as well. I would think about buying the MCP Mar 17, 2012 30 strike Call Options for 2.35 a contract, with a slight pullback in the shares of Molycorp.  I am also still a big fan of the AVL Mar 17, 2012 3 strike Call Options for .25 cents.  Rare Earth Miners have room to run much higher in my opinion. So, Stay tuned to Optionshoney.com for more news on the Rare earth miners and options plays!!

 

Chart Courtesy of Fidelity Investments:

Technology Giant “Apple” Spikes Higher on Blow-Out Earnings Report!! What are my Options Honey?? By: Tim Bolger

Apple Inc.(AAPL) blew out Wall St. Analyst expectations with its quarterly earnings report released last night. Steve Jobs thank you…you were a legendary business player and the most innovative technology pioneer that ever walked the planet. And now thanks to all of your hard work Mr. Jobs, Apple has just surpassed Exxon Mobil as the largest and most valuable company on planet earth by market capitalization. WOW!!!! [$$] Apple Again Becomes Most Valuable Company, So What’s Next?at The Wall Street Journal(Wed 10:06AM EST)

Who bought shares of AAPL in 2000? Well if you invested just $10,000 on the stock back then, you would be a multi-millionaire today.  The ipod, iphone, mac-books, ipad, etc have been one blockbuster innovative technology product after the next…Consumers around the globe have been buying all of these AAPL products like hot cakes and just can’t get enough of them. The halo effect has helped AAPL continue to dominate and sky rocket higher!! Everyone that I know with an iphone absolutely loves it…Sorry Blackberry and RIMM…Hello iphone and Android…And now there are over 500,000 mobile apps for that sleek, trendy mobile phone.

Let’s take a closer look at a few amazing financial statistics on Apple.  It is currently sitting on over $97 billion in cash and securities!!! What should Apple do with all that cash??  Well, I would argue they should have bought back millions of shares(treasury stock) the last few years and that would have been the best return on their capital for shareholders as AAPL shares continue to sky rocket higher!!  Well, they missed that boat and now is time for the company to consider paying out a special dividend to shareholders and consider acquiring smaller technology companies that they see fit to add more value to shareholders.  Apple is sitting on $103 in cash per share.  AAPL now has  a market capitalization of over $418 billion and hit an all time record intraday high of $454.45 a share today. Will AAPL hit a $1 trillion market cap in the next decade? Maybe the next 5 years?? It is starting to feel very realistic and only time will tell the rest of this amazing Tech story…

What is the Options play? Well, clearly buying the Call Options now are very expensive and that should have been done prior to this blow out quarterly report by AAPL and big spike in the shares…I would wait for a big pull back in the shares before buying any out of the money calls on AAPL.  I do feel that the longer term trend in AAPL shares is still much higher and think the stock could hit $525 in 2012.   The law of large numbers tells me that the stock may pull back to around $415, before surging to $500+ though and would wait for a pull back in the stock to buy Call Options or shares of the stock.

However, for the short term trade, I would consider selling the $440 Feb 17, 2012 AAPL Put Option for $12.70.  Yahoo Finance Options Chain: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/op?s=AAPL&m=2012-02. Keep in mind that in order to sell 1 Put Option contract on AAPL at a $440 strike, I will need $44,000 in cash in my brokerage account in case I get exercised on the AAPL shares. By selling this Put Option, I will receive $1,270 and I am comfortable with the worst case scenario of being exercised on the shares at $440. Best case scenario, the shares remain above $440 through the Feb expiration date and I pocket $1,270 without having to buy the shares as well. For longer term AAPL investors, I would wait for the shares to pull back to the $400-415 range before loading up on the shares or adding to already existing core positions in the stock.

Stay tuned to Optionshoney.com for the next big opportunity to buy some Call Options on AAPL, if the stock pulls back 10-12% from its current stock price level of around $447. I will be waiting patiently on the side line for an opportunity to buy these Call Options if AAPl stock pulls back to around $415.  If it continues to go straight up, I may have missed the boat on this trade and will just have to watch it keep flying higher.

Buying Call options after a big spike in a company’s shares is always a high risk trade and not one that I want to put my money on very often. Patience and timing are both very instrumental in making money and winning Options trades.

Chart Courtesy of Fidelity Investments: