May 16, 2021 | Daily JAM, DIS, Jubak Picks, Top 50 Stocks |
Shares of Disney (DIS) dropped like a stone when the company reported after the close on May 13 that subscriptions to its Disney+ streaming service fell short of Wall Street projections for the March quarter. The shares closed at $178.37 on May 13 before the report and then opened the next morning at $169.57. They recovered some ground during the day and closed at $173.70 on Friday, May 14, down another 2.60% on the day. I’ve been arguing recently and repeatedly that I think Disney is one of the best stocks to own for a post-vaccine recovery economy. Sure, the subscription gains for Disney+ are likely to slow now that we’re not all locked in our homes and going stir-crazy. But the company’s most profitable unit–the big entertainment parks have been just about shut down during the pandemic and the California parks just started to reopen at the very end of April. I see the drop on the March quarter results as a substantial buying opportunity.
May 14, 2021 | Daily JAM, Volatility |
On May 11, when the Standard & Poor’s 500 was headed for a 2.14% loss on the day, I took a long hard look at selling the downside hedges I own in my Volatility Portfolio. In that portfolio I own a September 17 Put Option on the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) and two Call Options on the CBOE S&P 500 Volatility Index (VIX) for July 21 and August 18. I came very close to pulling the Sell trigger on one of the VIX calls. (Because the VIX goes up as fear in the market rises (usually on a sell off or worries about an impending sell off, the Call Option on the VIX acts as a Put Option. It will become more valuable as the market falls.) I was in the black on the August 18 Call Option with a strike price of 22 because the Vix had climbed 26.33% on the day to a close of 27.59. I think the decision not to sell was a non-decision. And a mistake. I dithered over it for so long that the market had closed by the time I decided to sell. A sell would have resulted in a profit of 9.2% from my March 23 buy. Not huge but still money. I decided not to sell the iShares Russell September 17 put with a strike price of $215. The ETF would close that day at $218.96 and then drop to a close of $211.75 on May 12. A Sell would have resulted in a gain of 15.6% atom my March 24 buy. Unlike the failure to sell the VIX Call, I don’t think the decision not to sell the IWM Put was a mistake even if it meant foregoing a 15% profit (on a holding period of less than 2 months.) Let me explain.
April 24, 2021 | Daily JAM, Friday Trick or Trend |
It may seen illogical but the time to buy Call Options betting on a better than expected earnings report from Company A, B or C, is well before (two weeks? 10 days?) the earnings report date and the time to sell is before the earnings report itself. The price of an Call Option is likely to fall on the earnings report date even if the company delivers the positive surprise you were hoping for
April 12, 2021 | Daily JAM, Short Term |
Over the weekend I posted that I’d be looking at a possible buy of Call Options on the CBOE S&P 500 Volatility Index (VIX) today–depending on how the VIX behaved in the Monday action. Today the VIX regained some of the ground that it gave up last week, closing ahead 1.92% to 1701 after closing at 16.69 on Friday. And I’m going to hold off on buying VIX Call Options until I see the trend in first quarter earnings reports.
April 7, 2021 | Daily JAM, Jubak Picks, Volatility, WH |
Today, I’m going to review the fundamental case for Wyndham shares (the reason I added it to Jubak Picks on March 17) and give you the details on the Call Option on Wyndham that I’ll be adding to my Volatility Portfolio tomorrow.
March 31, 2021 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
The one certainty in the stock market right now, I’d say, is volatility. Both to the upside and to the downside. So I think we should take what the market is giving us. Using these three moves in the short term.
March 23, 2021 | Daily JAM, IWM, Volatility |
Tomorrow, March 24, I’m going to add another hedge against a drop in stock prices, one that’s a more general market hedge against a more general market decline. The hedge is the September 17 Put Option (which goes up in price as the share price goes down) on the small cap Russell 2000 Index using the iShares MSCI Russell 2000 ETF.
March 18, 2021 | Daily JAM, Jubak Picks |
I’d like to add more exposure to the bank sector. But what? At this stage in the bank stock rally, I’m looking for well-run banks that will be able to take advantage of the increase in the yield spread to add to earnings. (As opposed to earlier in the cycle, when I added Citigroup because things were getting a lot better even for not-so-well run banks.) Bank of America (BAC) is one possibility. But the stock is up 25.80% for 2021 as of March 18 and up 32.26% in the last month. I think, instead, that I’ll go with U.S. Bancorp (USB), the country’s largest regional bank. U.S. Bancorp is up 16.96% for 2021 to date and up “only” 21.27% in the last month. It also comes with a 3.8% dividend (well above the 1.90% paid by Bank of America) that will give investors some downside protection. I’m adding that stock to my Jubak Picks Portfolio on Friday.
March 18, 2021 | Daily JAM |
Weekly options, monthly options, quarterly options, and even futures contracts all expire tomorrow.
March 10, 2021 | Daily JAM, Videos |
I’m starting up my videos on JubakAM.com again–this time using YouTube as a platform. The fourteenth YouTube video “3 Picks for Continued Volatility” went up today.
March 4, 2021 | Daily JAM, Jubak Picks, Short Term |
Last time, way back on February 23, when I posted on an everything is down market, I said that I didn’t think we were yet at buy on the dip time, but that I was doing a little selective nibbling at stocks such as Applied Materials (AMAT) that had extraordinarily strong 2012 growth stories. Well, I’ve been doing a little nibbling today–again I’m not buying everything on the drop since I can’t tell where the bottom might be.
February 25, 2021 | AMAT, Daily JAM, Jubak Picks, Short Term, Volatility |
I’m very reluctant to go bottom fishing here–since I can’t tell where the bottom might be and the one-day losses are significant here. Tesla (TSLA), for example, was down 8.06% TODAY. That’s $59.80 dollars a share. Teladoc (TDOC) dropped 13.74% or $34.98 a share. Guessing wrong on a bottom could be very expensive here. But I am willing to try a few trades. Nothing fancy. Very short-term. But using stocks with very strong longer-term stories that make me feel good about the longer-term prospects for the stocks. And to believe that there are significant numbers of potential bargain hunters hiding in the bushes. So, for example, I’ve been trading in and out of the Call Options on Applied Materials (AMAT).
