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.

I already own 800 shares of Sprint with Jan12 Covered Calls at the $5 strike price on them.  My basis for the existing shares is $9.57.  At the time I sold the Jan12 Puts I expected that they would expire worthless.  It turns out that I was wrong.    I also thought that an assignment would be beneficial because it would allow me to average down my total holdings to about $7.69.  Upon current evaluation, I see that I am dollars ahead by rolling out these Puts rather that selling Covered Calls on the assigned stock.  As it is, I will need to go out to Jan14 to sell the $5 Call or Jan13 to sell the $4 call for a reasonable premium.  I may need to sit on Sprint for a time to see if it will recover a bit before selling new Calls on my existing shares.

S&P currently has a 12-month price target of $5.00 for Sprint with a Buy recommendation but a poor (0% accuracy) rating predicting Sprint’s price movement.  MarketEdge has a price opinion of $2.77 with a Neutral recommendation and a Fair (40% accuracy) rating prediction Sprint’s price movement.  The 29 Yahoo Analysts have a mean 12-month target of $3.83 with a recommendation of 2.7 where 1.0 is a Strong Buy and 5.0 is a Strong Sell.

As you may surmise from my comment above, I don’t really desire to continue owing Sprint but also don’t want to have it called away at a loss.  There are no dividends so, unless I can make a decent return from the option premiums, I expect it will be out of my portfolio one day.

As you may have just read in my previous post, I already own 800 shares of Sprint with Jan12 Covered Calls at the $5 strike price on them.  My basis for the existing shares is $9.57.  I don’t really expect the $3 Puts to be assigned to me but if they are the assignment will further reduce my average basis to about $7.69.  Perhaps I will be able to actually sell Covered Calls above my basis one day and get these shares called away.

S&P currently has a 12 month price target of $6.00 for Sprint with a Buy recommendation but a poor (0% accuracy) rating predicting Sprint’s price movement.  MarketEdge has a price opinion of $4.23 with an Avoid recommendation and a Fair (33% accuracy) rating prediction Sprint’s price movement.

As you may surmise from my comment above I don’t really desire to continue owing Sprint but also don’t want to have it called away at a loss.  There are no dividends so, unless I can make a decent return from the option premiums, I expect it will be out of my portfolio one day.

The stock is down 8 cents at this writing with about an hour before the closing bell to $3.34.  Just as I did when I sold the prior Aug11 Calls, I decided to go ahead and sell these Covered Calls at $5 and wait and see what happens.  I may need to try rolling them out before Jan11 expiration.

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 Yahoo! Analysts currently have a 12 month price target of $5.75, up from $5.28 when I last wrote in January 2011 and a 2.4 recommendation, up from 2.5 where 1.0 is a Strong Buy and 5.0 is a Strong Sale.  So, I guess the consensus is slightly toward a Buy.

The Yahoo! Analysts currently have a 12 month price target of $5.28 and a 2.5 recommendation where 1.0 is a Strong Buy and 5.0 is a Strong Sale.  So, I guess the consensus is a Hold.  

The stock is up 6 cents at this writing just before the closing bell to $4.36.  Just as I did when I sold the Jan11 Calls, I decided to go ahead and sell these Covered Calls at $5 and wait and see what happens.  I may need to try rolling them out before Aug11 expiration.

I am also considering selling some Aug11 Puts on S, probably at the $4 strike price.  The reason is for the additional cash flow of course but also, if they are assigned to me they would further reduce my basis allowing me greater latitude and comfort when I sell new Covered Calls on the entire lot.  The Aug11 4 Puts are currently selling at 34 cents.  One hesitation is that I don’t normally like to sell Puts that far out.

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, 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.  I 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.