Trading Tips Blog

Apparel manufacturing firm V.F. Corporation (VFC) is down nearly 50 percent over the past year. One trader sees the weakness in shares continuing throughout the next year. That’s based on the January 2025 $10 puts. With 441 days until expiration, 40,812 contracts traded compared to a prior open interest of 258, for a massive 158-fold rise in volume on the trade. The buyer of the puts paid $1.35 to make the bearish bet. VFC shares recently traded for about $13, so the ...
Read More

This quarter’s earnings season has shown that investors are less interested in AI, at least as far as big tech names are concerned. Instead, the concern is how those companies are managing their major cash cow, cloud services. Yet that’s a space where AI tools could enhance returns in the future. And investing with companies that can provide AI tools specifically for cloud services could see big gains outside the well-known big tech names. The leading player for this intersection of trends ...
Read More

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A), a major holder of Occidental Petroleum (OXY), recently added 3.92 million shares. The buy cost the company $246 million, and represented a 2 percent increase in Berkshire’s OXY holdings. The buy comes after a four-month pause, as Berkshire’s prior buy was back in June. Berkshire has been the sole insider buyer of shares going back to early 2022. And 2022 also saw the last insider sale, which came following the exercise of a stock option. Overall, Occidental Read More

Airline carrier JetBlue (JBLU) is down nearly 50 percent over the past year, as the carrier has been working on the acquisition of Spirit Airlines (SAVE). One trader sees shares trending higher into the start of next year. That’s based on the January 2024 $4.00 calls. With 78 days until expiration, 42,989 contracts traded compared to a prior open interest of 526, for an 82-fold rise in volume on the trade. The buyer of the calls paid $0.49 to make the ...
Read More

The market’s selloff in the past few months has largely occurred between earnings seasons. The past few weeks, we’ve seen companies report solid earnings. The market hasn’t been in a position to reward those earnings yet, but could in the weeks ahead as stocks form a base and look to move off their current prices into the end of the year. Picking through today’s earnings winners could lead to solid returns in the months ahead. For investors who are still cautious about ...
Read More

Walter Clayton, a director at American Express (AXP), recently bought 1,000 shares. The buy doubled his total holdings, and came to a cost of $143,930. The director bought his initial stake in November 2022, paying about $149,000 for 1,000 shares. In that intervening time, company executives have sold shares, some directly, and some following the exercise of stock options. And there have been no other insider buys. Overall, American Express insiders own 0.1 percent of shares. The credit card services provider is ...
Read More

Shares of Tesla Motors (TSLA) slid under $200 this week. The stock is now at a five-month low and under its 200-day moving average. One trader sees a short-term bounce in the weeks ahead. That’s based on the December 1 $200 call. With 30 days until expiration, 3,323 contracts traded compared to a prior open interest of 169, for a 20-fold rise in volume on the trade. The buyer of the calls paid $11.60 to make the bullish bet. With shares Read More

Companies can do a lot of things with the profits they make. They could continue to expand the business, but after a certain size, most companies start to pay a dividend or buy back shares to reward shareholders. A handful of great companies are able to continually grow their cash flows, and from there reward shareholders with growing dividend payouts, on top of being able to further grow the business. That’s the case with ExxonMobil (XOM). The energy production company is making ...
Read More