May 20th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Below are the results of my May08 option holdings. All are expirations except for the ACI contract which was assigned. I evaluated rolling the ACI contract out but it was too far in the money make it worthwhile. I originally purchased these ACI shares at $40 and owned them at $36.31 so I don’t feel to bad about them being called away. I should point out that some of the amounts in the “Total Received” column are larger than you might expect because they are the result of rolling out a previously owned Put or Covered Call.
|
Stock Symbol
|
Option Symbol
|
Call/Put
|
Bought / Sold
|
Strike
Price
|
Status
|
Number of
Contracts
|
Total Received
|
|
PM
|
PMEK
|
Call
|
Sold
|
55.00
|
Expired
|
2
|
10.50
|
|
IMB
|
IMBEA
|
Call
|
Sold
|
5.00
|
Expired
|
2
|
10.50
|
|
SGP
|
SGPQW
|
Put
|
Sold
|
17.50
|
Expired
|
3
|
109.75
|
|
GM
|
GMQT
|
Put
|
Sold
|
17.50
|
Expired
|
2
|
54.50
|
|
TBI
|
TBIEC
|
Call
|
Sold
|
15.00
|
Expired
|
4
|
231.00
|
|
SGTL
|
LWQAA
|
Call
|
Sold
|
5.00
|
Expired
|
18
|
338.50
|
|
GGC
|
GGCEB
|
Call
|
Sold
|
10.00
|
Expired
|
6
|
197.50
|
|
COP
|
COPQQ
|
Put
|
Sold
|
85.00
|
Expired
|
1
|
981.24
|
|
WM
|
WMEZ
|
Call
|
Sold
|
16.00
|
Expired
|
1
|
18.25
|
|
GM
|
GMEE
|
Call
|
Sold
|
25.00
|
Expired
|
6
|
473.50
|
|
CSX
|
CSXQI
|
Put
|
Sold
|
45.00
|
Expired
|
2
|
1310.48
|
|
CSX
|
CSXQL
|
Put
|
Sold
|
60.00
|
Expired
|
2
|
260.50
|
|
OLN
|
OLNQD
|
Put
|
Sold
|
20.00
|
Expired
|
3
|
739.74
|
|
TIE
|
TIEQC
|
Put
|
Sold
|
15.00
|
Expired
|
4
|
189.00
|
|
MO
|
MOEX
|
Call
|
Sold
|
22.50
|
Expired
|
2
|
50.50
|
|
WFC
|
WFCQY
|
Put
|
Sold
|
27.50
|
Expired
|
2
|
210.50
|
|
SGP
|
SGPQC
|
Put
|
Sold
|
15.00
|
Expired
|
3
|
130.75
|
|
GOL
|
GOLEW
|
Call
|
Sold
|
17.50
|
Expired
|
2
|
30.50
|
|
YHOO
|
YHQEF
|
Call
|
Sold
|
30.00
|
Expired
|
4
|
329.00
|
|
BAC
|
BACEH
|
Call
|
Sold
|
40.00
|
Expired
|
2
|
86.50
|
|
ACI
|
ACIEI
|
Call
|
Sold
|
45.00
|
Assigned
|
1
|
951.25
|
|
FCX
|
FCXQS
|
Put
|
Sold
|
95.00
|
Expired
|
1
|
1191.24
|
January 16th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
I am watching CNBC, the price of oil falling again while reviewing my options for the near months. I have (had) a COP Feb08 85 put that was uncomfortably underwater with the price of COP at $77.55. I ran the May08 85 put through my spreadsheet and saw that I could roll it out and generate a 19.38% return on the net premium and an additional $137.52 in my IRA account.
When I actually made the trade I entered a limit order .10 lower than the ask for the BTC. It was executed almost immediately. Then I entered a limit order .10 higher than the bid to roll out. It took a couple of minutes but it was also executed. The result of not just accepting the ask and bid prices was a 21.49% return on the net premium and an additional $152.50 in my IRA account. Entering limit orders between the bid and ask price is something I do quite often. I don’t track how often this succeeds but I think it is between 25 - 50% of the time.
Now, if put to me I would own COP at $81.45, still above the current price but better than the prior situation.
January 3rd, 2008 at 9:29 pm
I almost forgot these two new put transactions. I did both of them on 12/26/07.
I sold 2 AGU Jan08 65 puts for $300.50 in an IRA account. Jim Cramer spoke about this one a few days earlier. It is an agricultural retailer and fertilizer producer. It has a great chart and good fundamentals. Part of the attraction here is leveraging the demand for agricultural products, in particular to support the bio-fuel industry. Even though bio-fuel is not the most efficient way to create energy it has a lot of popular support and with the recent energy bill that Pres. Bush signed there is even more support. This creates demand for this stock (and others). Cramer compared AGU to FCX because of its aggressive acquisition bias.
I also sold 1 COP Feb08 85 put for $203.25 in an IRA account. COP is also a Jim Cramer pick as best of breed. In his most recent book, Cramer calls COP out as one of his top 20 stocks to buy now which should be good for the next 5 years or so. I believe that energy in general is a good place to be. This stock pays a moderate dividend so if it is put to me I will keep it and sell covered calls because it would fit into my general investing philosophy.
