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How to Trade Out of an Earnings-Related Options Play:
According to Openfolio, a site where about 70,000 users share information on their investments, three out of four investors lost money in June, with an average return of -0.10%. This compares to the results of the Terry’s Tips’ Auto-Traded portfolios where 7 of 8 portfolios gained, and the average gain was 15.1%. Our only losing portfolio was a special bet that the short-term price of oil would fall. It didn’t, and we lost a little, but that was nothing compared to 4 of the portfolios which gained over 20% for the month.
One of our portfolios trades options on Nike (NKE) which announced earnings after the close last Tuesday, June 28. We had spreads in place similar to those that I told you about last week (and several others as well). The portfolio managed to gain 29% in June, something that often happens during the month when an earnings announcement takes place.
On the Monday before the earnings announcement, with the stock trading at about $52, I placed these trades (at higher quantities):
Buy to Open 1 NKE 29Jul16 52.5 put (NKE160729P52.5)
Sell to Open 1 NKE 1Jul16 52.5 put (NKE160701P52.5) for a debit of $.50 (buying a calendar)
Buy to Open 1 NKE 29Jul16 55 call (NKE160729C55)
Sell to Open 1 NKE 1Jul16 55 call (NKE160701C55) for a debit of $.50 (buying a calendar)
In my note to you, I said I thought you could buy these spreads for $.43 ($43) each, but that was based on the prior Friday’s prices. I was disappointed to have to pay so much more, but I still believed it was a pretty good bet.
When the stock fell closer to $51, I bought half as many spreads as the above two at the 50 strike just in case the stock continued to trade lower. When you buy calendar spreads, you select strike prices where you hope the stock will end up when the short options expire, as the at-the-money strike spread will be the most profitable. Buying spreads at several strikes gives you more places where you can end up being happy, but your maximum gain is reduced a bit when you buy the increased protection that owning several strikes provides.
After I made the above trades on Monday, I suffered my second disappointment. As I had seen so many times before, in the last day before the announcement (Tuesday), the stock rallied $1.10 and closed at $53.09. If I had anticipated this better, I would not have bought the spreads at the 50 strike. In after-hours trading after the announcement (earnings were a penny above estimates but sales disappointed a little and outlook was about what was expected), the stock tanked to about $50. As we have often seen, this initial move was quickly reversed. When the market opened on Wednesday, it had moved up to $54.50.
While my positions were showing a nice paper profit at the open on Wednesday, I had to wait to near Friday’s close to get the full amount I was hoping for. I was in a bad position, however, because most of my spreads were at strike prices which were below the stock price. In option terms, my positions were negative net delta – this means that if the stock went up another dollar, I would lose money. I aggressively changed to a neutral net delta condition by closing out the lowest-strike put calendars (at the 50 strike) and changing some 52.5 calendars to diagonals, buying back in-the-money 52.5 short calls and replacing them with at-the-money 55 calls and slightly out-of-the-money 56 calls in the same 01Jul16 series.
Then I encountered my third disappointment. I had expected implied volatility (IV) of the long 29Jul16 series to be 27 after the announcement based on recent history, but it ended up being 24 which dampened my expected results. That meant the option prices would not be as high as I expected when I went to sell them. I had figured an at-the-money spread could be sold for $1.40, and the closest spread I had (the 55 strike) only yielded $.97 (however, this was almost double what I paid for it). By Friday, the stock moved above the top strike price I held (55) and closed at $55.61. Since I managed to stay neutral net delta and actually pick up some extra premium in the last three days from the new at-the-money calls I sold, I ended up making over 50% on my total investment for the week. It was a lot of work but surely worth the effort.
I had set out to make 100% in a single week, and experienced disappointments in three different areas, but at the end of the day, I was pleased to take in half that amount for the week.
What could be taken away from this play was; 1) that the stock often rises in the last day before the announcement (probably legging into the calendars would have been more profitable, but more risky), 2) the initial move after the announcement is usually reversed, and 3) it is important to make adjustments to create a neutral net delta condition for all your spreads until the short options expire.
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Any questions? I would love to hear from you by email (terry@terrystips.com), or if you would like to talk to our guy Seth, give him a jingle at 800-803-4595 and either ask him your question(s) or give him your thoughts. seth@terrystips.com
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I look forward to having you on board, and to prospering with you.
Terry
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