Stocks and Options

CAMECO CORPORATION (CCJ) - Sold Aug08 Calls

Bill — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:52:34 +0000

On 7/22/08, I sold 2 CCJ Aug08 40 Covered Calls for a net deposit of $190.50 in an IRA account. My basis for CCJ, excluding dividends, is now 36.95.

Although CCJ does pay a small dividend (.06 per share per quarter) it is not the primary reason that I own the stock. The option premium is why I own the stock and my belief that uranium will become a more precious commodity as the world, and hopefully the US, turns more to building nuclear plants for generating electricity.

Georgia Gulf Corporation (GGC) - Sold Aug08 Calls

Bill — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:47:17 +0000

On 7/22/08, I sold 11 GGC Aug08 5 Covered Calls for a net deposit of $30.75 in my taxable account and an IRA account. My basis, not considering dividends is now 17.40 and 19.09 for the two lots.

You may notice that chipping sound again as I slowlyreduce my basis in GGC. GGC’s dividend, at .08 per share per quarter, is almost as much as the option premium. There’s nothing else I have to say about GGC or even why I own it. (You may guess that I first heard about it from Jim Cramer.)

Bank of America (BAC) - Sold Aug08 Calls

Bill — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:39:37 +0000

On 7/22/08, I sold 2 BAC Aug08 35 Covered Calls for a net deposit of $56.50 in an IRA account. After option premiums, but without considering dividends, my basis is now 45.77 for these BAC shares.

BAC pays a decent dividend at .64 per share per quarter for a 7.91% annualized return. BAC reaffirmed this dividend in quarterly meeting.

I am still underwater with BAC but feel pretty good that it will end up being a good investment for me. It would have been better to have gotten in at a better price though. :-) I am actually considering selling some new puts for BAC, perhaps at the 25 strike price. If put to me it would reduce my average price nicely. If not, it would be nice additional revenue. By the way, I am considering doing the same for WFC which I think is probably a stronger bank.

Trueblue Inc (TBI) - Sold Aug08 Calls

Bill — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:31:04 +0000

On 7/22/08, I sold 4 TBI Aug08 15 Covered Calls for a net deposit of $189.00 in my taxable account. My basis, after option premiums, in these TBI shares is now 16.31.

I am still underwater on these TBI shares but am getting closer to break even, picking up .47 per share with this sale. TBI does not pay a dividend so it does not fit into my current general investment objectives. Even so, as long as I can make this kind of monthly return by selling Covered Calls I will probably continue to own it and sell the Calls. After all, if this continues I will own TBI free and clear in less than a year and then the rate of return will be infinite. :-) That will be hard to beat.

BP plc (ADR) (BP) - Sold Aug08 Calls

Bill — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:23:44 +0000

I said that I would get my posting caught up yesterday. Well…things didn’t work out that way. So, maybe I can get everything caught up today. Here goes…

On 7/22/08, I sold 2 BP Aug08 65 Covered Calls for a net deposit of $250.50 in an IRA account. My basis for these BP shares is now 60.45 after option premiums but without considering dividend income.

I continue to like BP and the oil sector in general. It is my belief that the current pullback in crude prices, while welcome, is temporary. Of course temporary is an imprecise term.

I also like the dividends that BP provides. It is currently paying .8115 per share per quarter for an 5.16% annualized return. That dividend plus the option premium makes for a pretty nice return on my investment. I own a total of 500 BP shares in this IRA account.