Publications

6/27/11 Weekly Briefing: Benefiting from Time Decay a Second Way

Jim uses the dark art of technical analysis to downplay the chances of a severe stock market decline and delves deep into the time-value decay benefits of horizontal spreads…. Read More

6/23/11 Trade Alert: Playing a Small Business Recovery–UPDATE

(updated with trade rationale) Sell Put Credit Spread on Intuit (NasdaqGS: INTU) “Buy to Open” October $38 Put and “Sell to Open” October $48 Put Option Symbols: INTU111022P38 and INTU111022P48 Limit Order Price: Net credit of $1.70 or more ($170 per spread) Directional View for Underlying Stock: Neutral to slightly bullish Options for Income Portfolio: […]… Read More

6/21/11 Weekly Briefing: The Virtues of Diversification

The recent market correction won’t morph into a more serious downturn. Nevertheless, a diversified portfolio of options can protect you from any outcome in the markets…. Read More

6/16/11 Trade Alert: High-Growth Cancer Drug Stock–UPDATE

(updated with trade rationale) Sell Put Credit Spread on Celgene (NasdaqGS: CELG) “Buy to Open” October $45 Put and “Sell to Open” October $55 Put Option Symbols: CELG111022P45 and CELG111022P55 Limit Order Price: Net credit of $1.80 or more ($180 per spread) Directional View for Underlying Stock: Neutral to slightly bullish Options for Income Portfolio: […]… Read More

6/13/11: Weekly Briefing: Trading Options from a Stock Perspective

Understanding underlying company fundamentals is as important with option investing as it is with straight equities. Here, too, short-term market fluctuations often provide opportunities to establish value-based positions in good businesses…. Read More

6/9/11 Trade Alert: Bullish on Two Megatrends–UPDATE

(Updated with trade rationales) Trade Recommendation No. 1:   “Buy to Open” January 2013 $12.50 Call on Cisco Systems (NasdaqGS: CSCO) Option ticker symbol: CSCO130119C12.5 Limit order price: $3.80 or less ($380 per contract) Directional View for Underlying Stock: Bullish Options for Income Portfolio: Growth Current Cisco Stock Price: $15.30 Time Value Premium to Current […]… Read More

6/9/11 Trade Alert: Bullish on Two Megatrends–UPDATE

The first tech stock is added to the Options for Income Growth Portfolio and a conservative income bet on health care rounds out this double-recommendation week.
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6/8/11: Drug Trial Test Results Disappoint

In my June 2 trade alert, I predicted that United Therapeutics’ (NSDQ: UHTR) FREEDOM-M drug trial results would be a “binary” event–either a big success that catapults the stock price to $80 to $82 or a failure that causes a stock drop to $52 to $54. As is often the case, reality is neither black […]… Read More

6/8/11: Drug Trial Test Results Disappoint

Despite mixed results for a Portfolio holding’s new drug trial, the original trade remains intact.

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6/6/11 Weekly Briefing: OFI Portfolio Resilient in Market Downdraft

The market may be struggling, but the Options for Income Portfolios remain poised for profits.

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