On Monday, 1/23/12, I sold 8S Jan13$4 Covered Calls for a net deposit of $73.92 in an IRA account.  My basis for these S shares is now 9.48.  This transaction represents a simple return of about .97% and an annualized return of about .97%, if held to expiration.

Sprint has fallen off a cliff since August 2011 and continues to drift downward.  It is up a little today at 2.20 but I have no great expectation for it.

S paid a small dividend (2.5 cents) up until December 2007.  It has not paid a dividend since then and I am not sure if or when they will resume.  Today I do not consider S part of my core holdings, mostly because it no longer pays a dividend,  but I am still content to hold it and collect option premiums to reduce my basis and one day expect to exit S at a profit.  If Sprint does resume dividends one day, and before I sell it, I will re-evaluate whether or not to continue holding it.  I doubt that I will repurchase it if I no longer hold it at that time.

The 20 Yahoo Analysts currently have a 12-month price target of $3.78 and a 2.7 recommendation where 1.0 is a Strong Buy and 5.0 is a Strong Sale.  So, I guess the consensus is slightly toward a sell.