Stocks and Options » PDS

Precision Drilling Trust (PDS) – Rolled Out Mar12 Calls

Bill — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 18:16:04 +0000

Today, 3/12/12, I BTC 5 PDS Sep11 $8 Covered Calls and STO 5 PDS Sep12 $8 Covered Calls for a net deposit of $69.36 of option premiums in an IRA account. My basis for these PDS shares is now $18.55, excluding dividends received. This transaction represents a simple return of about .74% and an annualized return of about 1.40% on my prior basis.

PDS last paid a dividend in Feb09. It was .03 per share down from the previous .13 per share. It was the dividend that first attracted me to PDS because it was a monthly dividend. PDS is based inCanada. I don’t expect that PDS will be paying monthly dividends again when and if it resumes paying them. PDS is a Canadian Trust and the tax law changes inCanadahave caused many trusts to change to standard corporations.

So, what do I do with PDS? If it does not resume paying a dividend it will not fit my general investment goals. On the other hand, you know how I hate to have a stock called away below my basis. I expect that I will occasionally purchase an additional 100 shares to average down my basis and continue to sell Covered Calls on the shares until they are eventually called away.

S&P does not have a price target while MarketEdge has a price opinion of $11.77 and a Long recommendation that was last updated earlier this month. The 14 reporting YHOO analysts have a 12-month price target of $16.07 and a rating of 2.1 on a scale where 1.0 is a Strong Buy and 5 is a Strong Sell.

Precision Drilling Trust (PDS) – Rolled Out Sep11 Calls

Bill — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 00:43:29 +0000

Today, 8/23/11, I BTC 5 PDS Sep11 $8 Covered Calls and STO 5 PDS Mar12 $8 Covered Calls for a net deposit of $107.36 of option premiums in an IRA account. My basis for these PDS shares is now $18.68, excluding dividends received. This transaction represents about a 1.14% simple return and an annualized return of about 1.97% on my prior basis.

PDS last paid a dividend in Feb09. It was .03 per share down from the previous .13 per share. It was the dividend that first attracted me to PDS because it was a monthly dividend. PDS is based in Canada. I don’t expect that PDS will be paying monthly dividends again when and if it resumes paying them. PDS is a Canadian Trust and the tax law changes in Canada have caused many trusts to change to standard corporations.

So, what do I do with PDS? If it does not resume paying a dividend it will not fit my general investment goals. On the other hand, you know how I hate to have a stock called away below my basis.

I do see some positive news for PDS and the current higher price of oil seems to have also been beneficial. I don’t know if the higher oil will continue but the stock price had been on a steady climb since Sep10 until late July and it has been recovering since then. So, I don’t think the stock price increase can only be the result of the higher oil price.

S&P does not have a proposed a price target and MarketEdge has a price opinion of $11.74 that was last updated earlier this month. The YHOO analysts have a 12 month price target of 18.18 and a rating of 2 on the scale where 1.0 is a Strong Buy and 5 is a Strong Sell.

Precision Drilling Trust (PDS) – Rolled Out and Up Mar11 Calls

Bill — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 22:03:49 +0000

Today, 3/18/11, I BTC 4 PDS Mar11 7.50 Covered Calls, bought 100 PDS shares, and STO 5 PDS Sep11 8 Covered Calls for a net deposit of $133.10 of option premiums in an IRA account. My basis for these PDS shares is now 21.17, excluding dividends received. This transaction represents about a 1.26% simple return and an annualized return of about 2.51% on my averaged down basis.

A funny thing happened on the way to March expiration. I had an error in my spreadsheet and thought that my PDS strike price was $10 when it was actually $7.50. PDS is trading over $12 and I don’t really want to be called away just yet. So, I do my calculations trying to set up a scenario that would help me out with my problem using a BTC price for the $10 strike. I got a wake up call when I tried to BTC my $10 Calls…I didn’t have any. It turns out not to be a big problem except that I see I am underwater more than I had thought.

PDS last paid a dividend in Feb09. It was .03 per share down from the previous .13 per share. It was the dividend that first attracted me to PDS because it was a monthly dividend. PDS is based in Canada. I don’t expect that PDS will be paying monthly dividends again when and if it resumes paying them. PDS is a Canadian Trust and the tax law changes in Canada are causing many trusts to change to standard corporations.

So, what do I do with PDS? If it does not resume paying a dividend it will not fit my general investment goals. On the other hand, you know how I hate to have a stock called away below my basis.

I do see some positive news for PDS and the current higher price of oil seems to have also been beneficial. I don’t know if the higher oil will continue but the stock price has been on a steady since Sep10, with the exception of a couple of weeks ago and it has recovered since then. So, I don’t think the stock price increase can only be the result of the higher oil price.

S&P does not have a proposed a price target and MarketEdge has a price opinion of $7.76 that was last updated in Oct. 2010. The YHOO analysts have a 12 month price target of 10.67 and a rating of 2 on the scale where 1.0 is a Strong Buy and 5 is a Strong Sell.

After all that I decided to buy the additional 100 shares to average down my basis and roll up the strike price to $8 which was just enough to give me a positive cash flow on the two option transactions. The option premium on the new shares would reduce my basis on them alone down to about $8 so this is not quite as bad as it first appears and it gives me the chance to play with PDS again in September.

Precision Drilling Trust (PDS) – Sold Mar11 Calls

Bill — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 19:23:08 +0000

Today, 9/27/10, I sold 4 PDS Mar11 10 Covered Calls for a net deposit of $86.95 in an IRA account. My basis for these PDS shares is now 23.76, excluding dividends received. This transaction represents about a .91% simple return and an annualized return of about 1.92% on my basis.

Until last March I had been sitting on these PDS shares since my Calls expired worthless in Sep08. I cannot even remember why I have waited so long to begin selling new Calls on PDS. As I look at a chart of the stock I can only guess that it was so low that I just didn’t want to sell new options on it. So this is now my second selling of options since resuming selling them on PDS. Curiously enough, the net deposit is only 1 cent above what I deposited last March.

PDS last paid a dividend in Feb09. It was .03 per share down from the previous .13 per share. It was the dividend that first attracted me to PDS because it was a monthly dividend. PDS is based in Canada. I don’t expect that PDS will be paying monthly dividends again when and if it resumes paying them. PDS is a Canadian Trust and the tax law changes in Canada are causing many trusts to change to standard corporations.

So, what do I do with PDS? If it does not resume paying a dividend it will not fit my general investment goals. On the other hand, you know how I hate to have a stock called away below my basis. I suspect that I will continue to hold and sell or roll out Covered Calls for as long as I can do so with a positive cash flow. If I cannot roll out with a net credit I will just let the stock go and find a better place to reinvest the funds.

Precision Drilling Trust (PDS) – Sold Sep10 Calls

Bill — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 19:46:32 +0000

On Wednesday, 4/7/10, I sold 4 PDS Sep10 10 Covered Calls for a net deposit of $86.94 in an IRA account. My basis for these PDS shares is now 23.98, excluding dividends received.

I’ve been sitting on these PDS shares since my last Calls expired worthless in Sep08. I cannot even remember why I have waited so long to begin selling new Calls on PDS. As I look at a chart of the stock I can only guess that it was so low that I just didn’t want to sell new options on it.

PDS last paid a dividend in Feb09. It was .03 per share down from the previous .13 per share. It was the dividend that first attracted me to PDS because it was a monthly dividend. PDS is based in Canada. I don’t expect that PDS will be paying monthly dividends again when and if it resumes paying them. PDS is a Canadian Trust and the tax law changes in Canada are causing many trusts to change to standard corporations.

So, what do I do with PDS? If it does not resume paying a dividend it will not fit my general investment goals. On the other hand, you know how I hate to have a stock called away below my basis. I suspect that I will continue to hold and sell or roll out Covered Calls for as long as I can do so with a positive cash flow.