Bullish Option Play at State Street Despite Weaker Shares

Today’s tickers: STT, HPQ, AMAT, PBR, BYD, AMD, VALE & ITUB STT – The 1% decline in State Street’s shares to $43.75 today has not deterred one investor from enacting a bullish ratio call spread in the July contract. Hoping for a nearer-term rally in the stock, the trader bought 5,000 calls at the July 44 strike price for 4.70 each and sold 10,000 calls at the higher July 50 strike for an average premium of 2.20 apiece. The spread cost the investor just 30 cents (1*4.70 – 2*2.20 = 0.30) and yields a maximum potential profit of 5.70 if shares were to climb to $50.00 by expiration. The stock need only rise about 55 cents from the current value to surpass the breakeven point for the trade at $44.30. – State Street Corp. HPQ – Shares have remained relatively flat today and are currently at $34.45. Our attention was drawn to two trades that appear to be covered calls initiated by investors looking for bullish movement in the stock. The first of the two transactions was the work of a nearer-term HPQ-optimist who looks to have purchased shares of the underlying stock and simultaneously written about 5,000 calls at the July 38 strike price for a premium of 55 cents each. This tactic limits potential gains for the investor but in return effectively reduces the price per share to $34.20 (assuming a purchase price of $34.75) and also provides an exit strategy should the July 38 calls land in-the-money by expiration. If the underlying shares are called away at expiration the trader will have realized total gains of 11%. The other covered-call-cohort we observed on HPQ targeted the August 40 strike price and wrote about 4,500 calls for a premium of 63 cents each. This individual effectively reduced the price of the underlying shares to approximately $34.19 (assuming a purchase price of $34.82) by writing the call options. The investor will bank gains of 17% on the trade if HPQ rallies through $40.00 and the underlying shares are called away from him at expiration in August. – Hewlett-Packard Co. AMAT – The manufacturer and marketer of integrated circuit fabrication equipment for the global semiconductor industry, has experienced a more than 3% rally in shares to $11.30. Option traders drove the call-to-put ratio up to 11.18 indicating that more than 11 call options were traded for each put option on the stock. Transactions on AMAT were decidedly…