Trading Tips Blog

Major holder buys another 1.8 million shares. Hudson Executive Capital LP continues to buy massive blocks of shares at USA Technologies (USAT). Following a recent buy, the company picked up another 1.8 million shares on September 26th, increasing their stake by 21 percent. The fund paid $8.2 million for the block of shares, and now owns over 10.1 million shares of the company. With a float of only 37 million shares, Hudson now owns over 27 percent of shares outstanding. The fund ...
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Traders bullish on telecom in coming weeks. The October 18th $13.50 call options on CenturyLink (CTL) saw nearly 4,000 contracts trade, against a prior open interest of 360, an 11-fold surge in volume. With shares at $12.75, the option will trade in-the-money if shares rise 5.8 percent in the next 18 days. Given how shares have traded as high as $22 in the past year, the option stands a reasonable chance of heading higher in the next few weeks. With shares of the ...
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Major investor on verge of majority stake. CD&R Investment Associates picked up 3.2 million shares of Beacon Roofing Supply Inc. (BECN). The firm, already a major holder, increased their stake by 30 percent by making the buy. The total cost came out to just over $102 million, and leaves the fund with 13.7 million shares of the company. In the past year, CD&R has picked up over 28 million shares, and corporate insiders have also been net buyers, with only two ...
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At-the-money puts suggest potential decline. The December 20th $10 put options on Freeport McMoRan (FCX) saw over 8,100 contracts trade, a 57-fold increase over the prior open interest of 143 contracts. With 84 days left to go, and with shares right at $10.00, the option should increase in value with any dollar-for-dollar drop in shares. With the option trading around $0.80, shares would need to only drop to $9.20 for the option holder to start making money on the trade. Freeport McMoRan has ...
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Multiple directors add shares of struggling game retailer. Two directors took the opportunity to pick up shares of GameStop (GME) near all-time lows. Director Kathy Vrabeck bought 20,000 shares, paying nearly $106,000 to do so, and director Raul Fernandez bought 4,900 shares, paying just under $25,000. The buys come after the company eliminated its dividend earlier in the year and an activist investor targeted the company, suggesting it make a huge buyback with its cash hoard to unlock shareholder value. Other directors ...
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  Bet on shares to move higher by spring. The March 2020 $34.00 call options on Uber (UBER) saw over 10,100 contracts trade against a prior open interest of 391, a 35-fold surge in volume. The bet, with shares trading around $31, indicates that shares should move at least 9.6 percent higher in the next 176 days before the option expires. Shares of the recent IPO have traded as high as $47 per share, back in late June, about a month after going ...
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Buyers bullish ahead of earnings. The October 11th $18.50 call options on Snapchat (SNAP) saw over 18,400 contracts trade against a prior open interest of 500, a 31-fold surge in volume. Traders are betting that shares, around $17.50, can rally another $1, or 5 percent, higher in the next 16 days. That’s a reasonable bet, as shares have more than tripled off their 52-week lows of $4.82, and shares have traded as high as $18.36 in the past year. Snapchat shares struggled ...
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Major fund holder adds to stake. Investment fund Hudson Executive Partners LP bought 143,200 shares of USA Technologies (USAT). Already a major holder with over 10 percent of shares, the $638,000 buy increases the fund’s holdings to over 8,339,170 shares. This is the second buy from the fund following the purchase of 1 million shares back in August, at prices 26 percent higher than where shares currently trade. Insiders have otherwise been holding their shares in the past two years. USA Technologies ...
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