Trading Tips Blog

Shares of offshore oil and gas services company Transocean (RIG) are up 83 percent over the past year. One trader sees a pullback in the next two months. That’s based on the March $5 puts. With 51 days until expiration, 13,472 contracts traded compared to a prior open interest of 108, for a 91-fold jump in volume on the trade. The buyer of the puts paid $0.22 to make the bearish bet. Shares recently traded for $6, so the stock would need ...
Read More About This

Some stocks tend to hold up well in any market. One area is consumer goods companies. These firms may make humdrum products like prepackaged food, soap, shampoo or toilet paper, but those products never fall out of demand. When markets turn lower, these companies may sag as well. And that can provide patient, long-term investors with a decent entry point that they otherwise might not have made. Such opportunities are appearing today… That’s especially true as companies are being hit with higher ...
Read More About This

Ecor1 Capital, a major holder at Zymeworks (ZYME), recently bought 985,100 shares. The buy increased the fund’s holdings by 11 percent, and came to a total cost just under $9.7 million. The buy comes a few days after the company bought 1,026,300 shares, paying about $7.8 million for that stake. Another major holder at the company bought shares back in October. Otherwise, company insiders have largely been sellers of modest amounts of shares. Overall, company insiders own 5.1 percent of shares, ...
Read More About This

Shares of chipmaker Intel (INTC) are down 44 percent over the past year, about three times worse than the slide in the S&P 500. One trader sees the stock continuing lower over the next two years. That’s based on the January 2025 $13.00 put. With 725 days until expiration, 10,004 contracts traded compared to a prior open interest of 312, for a 32-fold jump in volume on the trade. The buyer of the puts paid $0.60 to make the bearish bet. Shares ...
Read More About This

The economy ebbs and flows. Today’s slowdown will eventually give way to the next recovery and move stocks higher. The stock market tends to start moving higher before the economic data shows such a recovery. That’s why investors should focus on companies that will benefit from the next boom during a bust. Such a move ensures that investors and traders alike can capture the biggest part of the move as it happens. When the economy slows, so does the flow of goods ...
Read More About This

Michael Kerr, a director at EOG Resources (EOG), recently bought 20,000 shares. The buy increased his holdings by 12 percent, and came to a total cost of just under $2.61 million. The director also logged the last buy at the company in November 2021, with a 50,000 share buy for about $4.3 million. Since then, company insiders have been sellers of shares, mostly after exercising stock options. Overall, EOG insiders own about 0.5 percent of shares. The oil and gas exploration company ...
Read More About This

Shares of chipmaker Micron Technology (MU) are down nearly one-third over the last year. One trader sees a further decline ahead for shares in the coming weeks. That’s based on the March 3 $48 puts. With 42 days until expiration, 2,658 contracts traded compared to a prior open interest of 103, for a 26-fold rise in volume on the trade. The buyer of the puts paid $0.52 to make the bearish bet. Shares recently traded for just over $56, so they would ...
Read More About This

Some traders look for pure growth. Or pure value. Others may look for companies capable of big swings, depending on where they are in their industry cycle. Those looking to target cyclical companies need to start buying when things look down and out, not when things are going well. By buying at the low point of the cycle, traders and investors alike can catch big swings in traditionally more stodgy companies – and even beat the market doing so. Right now, industrial ...
Read More About This