HPQ Earnings Trade

Yesterday in the chat room I gave a nice earnings trade. I said I was buying the $28 HPQ puts and the $30 calls for earnings. It ended up being a profitable trade. My thought process involved HPQ's prior earnings and the fact that I think HPQ is still not on firm footing. Most people see Hewlett Packard and think Desktop computers. Guess what? Desktops are dying. How about HPQ's foray into tablet computing? Do you know what DOA stands for? I do have an HP touchpad, so it wasn't necessarily DOA, but they killed it right away... all things considered it was an awful move for the company. Which brings me to my HPQ earnings play.

I bought both puts and calls as I saw a 5% or better move coming. The stock ended up sliding more than 6.5%.

I bought 7 of each of the $28 puts and $30 calls.

Total cost for both HPQ calls and puts $532 + commission $550

Sold at $770 + commis $755 for $205 profit

HPQ $28 puts from $.36 to $1.10
HPQ $30 calls from $.40 to $.00

If HPQ had traded steady I would have lost out on both trades for an almost total loss. There is risk with options, but if you know what your doing, that risk can be limited. I had a strong feeling a big move was coming in either direction and I profited from that big move.

Known to most as Uranium Pinto Beans, Jason has more than 15 years under his belt of trading stocks, options and currencies. His expertise primarily lies in chart analysis, and he has a strong eye for undervalued stock. Because he’s got the ability to identify great risk/reward trades he usually enjoys taking the path less traveled and reaping the benefits from the adventure.

He is a co-founder of Option Millionaires, and he is best known for his weekly webinars with Scott, as well as his high level training webinars and charts found in the forums.

More Posts by UPB: View All | Private Twitter Feed: Access Now! (For Diamond Members)

Leave a Reply