Today, 1/9/12, I BTC 4 BRCD Jan12 $4 Covered Calls and STO 4 Jan14 $5 Covered Calls for a net deposit of $29.94 in my taxable account.  My basis for these BRCD shares is now $6.90.  This transaction represents a simple return of about 1.07% and an annualized return of about .53% on my prior basis.  In addition to the option premium, I increased my strike price by $1.

I am still underwater with BRCD so did not want to be called away as I surely would be next week with BRCD trading around $5.85 as I write this.  Ironically, I rolled BRCD out to Jan12 with a strike price down from $6 to $4 just last August.  At the time, it appeared like a good bet with BRCD having fallen off a cliff to the low $3 range.  However, it began a rather steady and persistent rise from that point.  If I had just left it alone it appears that I might have been able to sell some Calls with a strike above my basis and maybe been lucky enough for the shares to be called away at a profit.

S&P has a 12 month price target of $5.50 from 5.50 and continues its 3 star out of 5 rating (Hold) for BRCD.  Market Edge Second Opinion has a price opinion to $4.51 and continues its Long rating for BRCD.  The 20 Yahoo analysts currently have a 12-month price target to $5.73 with a 2.8 recommendation where 1.0 is a Strong Buy and 5.0 is a Strong Sell.

 I suspect that all of these price targets are low.  There appears to be interest from several buyers for BRCD…at least that is what Reuters reported this morning.  If correct, I expect these shares to be called away before I have the opportunity to roll these Calls out once again.

BRCD does not pay a dividend and has been pretty much a laggard in my accounts.  My longer-term goal is to reduce my basis through the sale of Covered Calls and position BRCD to be called away at a profit.

Today, 8/8/11, I BTC 4 BRCD Jan12 6 Covered Calls and STO 4 Jan12 4 Covered Calls for a net deposit of $83.95 in my taxable account.  My basis for these BRCD shares is now 6.97.  This transaction represents a simple return of about 2.92% and an annualized return of about 6.43% on my prior basis.

I rolled these options down to raise some cash because I anticipated a margin call to support some Puts that I have outstanding.  As I write this my anticipation was correct as I received a small call of around $250 which I have already covered from another account.  I am of the belief that we are near the bottom of the current pull back and that I may actually need to roll these new Covered Calls out before they expire in January.

Thomson Reuters continues its Neutral rating on BRCD on 8/5/11 while S&P has decreased its 12 month price target to 5.00 from a previous 7.00 and continues its 3 star out of 5 rating (Hold) for BRCD.  Market Edge Second Opinion has decreased it price opinion to 5.99 from 6.67 and  has decreased it rating to Avoid from a previous Long rating for BRCD.  Yahoo! Finance currently has increased it 12 month price target to 7.54 from an earlier 7.48 and continues a 2.2 recommendation where 1.0 is a Strong Buy and 5.0 ins a Strong Sell.

BRCD does not pay a dividend and has been pretty much a laggard in my accounts.  My longer term goal is to reduce my basis through the sale of Covered Calls and position BRCD to be called away at a profit.

Today, 6/21/11, I BTC 4 BRCD Jul11 6 Covered Calls and STO 4 Jan12 6 Covered Calls for a net deposit of $183.95 in my taxable account.  My basis for these BRCD shares is now 7.18.  This transaction represents a simple return of about 6.02% and an annualized return of about 10.26% on my prior basis.  I rolled these options out early because I will be on vacation during much of July with limited internet availability and don’t want to take the chance that I would not be able to make the trade later.

Thomson Reuters continues its Neutral rating on BRCD on 6/20/11 while S&P has increased its 12 month price target to 7.00 from 5.50 that I saw last January and continues its 3 star out of 5 rating (Hold) for BRCD.  Market Edge Second Opinion has increased it price opinion to 6.67 from 5.75 and but has increased it rating to Long from an earlier Avoid rating for BRCD.  Yahoo! Finance currently has increased it 12 month price target to 7.48 from an earlier 6.43 a 2.2 recommendation where 1.0 is a Strong Buy and 5.0 ins a Strong Sell.

I considered rolling my July Calls out to Jan13 and the strike price up to $7.50.  That would have created a net deposit of about $27.83 with a simple return of about .91% and an annualized return of about .58%.  More importantly, when including the increased return of the strike price, the simple return rose to about 20.54% and the annualized return rose to about 12.97%.  The Jan13 option would also have decreased the gap between my basis and the strike price to only a negative seven cents making it much more likely that I could get out of BRCD at a profit one day.  In the end, I decided to go for the greater current deposit over the possible future value.

BRCD does not pay a dividend and has been pretty much a laggard in my accounts.  My longer term goal is to reduce my basis through the sale of Covered Calls and position BRCD to be called away at a profit.