As the market began to fade on Friday, there were a coupe of large option trades on the iShares MSCI Japan ETF (NYSEARCA: EWJ). Just as the ETF was testing its 2020 high, it appears that the options market is beginning to turn bearish through some sizable long put trades. The activity comes at a time when equity markets historically struggle and as stimulus appears to be waning before the election. EWJ broke through a resistance area near $58.80 last week as the price tested it’s 52-week high near $60. EWJ has found itself outperforming the S&P 500 index over the past three weeks as...

You wouldn’t normally think of investing in steel producing companies in a recession, but these are unusual times. Last week, It was steel producing companies and metallurgical coal companies that led the way in an otherwise disappointing week for the market. After the Federal Reserve failed to deliver the stimulus last Wednesday, it may be the likelihood of a stimulus bill that includes infrastructure or just expectations of a rebound in the economy. Either way, these were companies that led the way last week. Steel is s metal that is used extensively in our everyday lives. It is compl...

Zscaler Inc (NASDAQ: ZS) is a cloud security company that announced earnings on September 9 that comfortably beat analyst estimates but saw its share price decline on the announcement. As the price has been searching for support, a number of insider sale transactions have begun to pop up. The response to the report and the transactions occur as the company discussed scrapping their profitability goal for increased operating margins during their earnings call. Zscaler is company that is experiencing phenomenal growth with a 3-year revenue growth rate of 40.1%. The company also has estima...

The Azek Company (NYSE: AZEK) closed its share offering on Tuesday for 25 million shares and an additional 3.75 million shares exercised by underwriters. The price of the offering was at $33.25 a share, but the proceeds go to large shareholders in the company that are looking to cash out. The breadth sellers involved, and size of the offering makes you wonder whether insiders are anticipating a lot more downside. The Azek began trading on the secondary market on June 12 and rand from its post-IPO opening price of $27.50 to as high as $42.16 on August 19. Since that high, the company has...

As the market weakened Fed announcement on Wednesday, the options market on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA: SPY) began to heat up on Thursday. The price of the SPY opened lower near the previous low and was able to stabilize around that level. However, as the price was stabilizing, there were some sizeable bearish option trades being made that indicate that level won’t hold. Looking back over the past couple of weeks, there has been several days where hedging activity in the option market surged before a short-term pullback. Two of those days were on September 2 and the other ...

Do you remember the Nifty Fifty? These were the original “Blue Chip” buy and hold stocks in the 1960’s and 1970’s. That strategy worked until the late 1970’s and 1980’s. The FAANGs or FAAMGs are the new Nifty Fifty at least in terms of the breadth of ownership. The question is when will these names be replaced by a new generation of growth companies and who will they be. Goldman Sachs attempted to provide that answer with their own “Future Five.” In a recent report, Goldman Sachs David Kostin seeks to find companies that have similar characteristics to the FAAMGs. These five companies c...

In the current market climate where people are moving a lot, it makes sense that a storage company may see some opportunity. Public Storage (NYSE: PSA) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that does just that and they currently pay a 3.56% dividend yield. Just as this market is potentially heating up, insiders have started buying shares. These are the first insider buy transactions since August of 2017. Maybe this is a good time to revisit PSA as an investment opportunity. PSA is an industrial REIT that operates over 2,500 self-storage facilities in 38 states with over 171 million i...

One of the trends of the pandemic is the increase in pet ownership. Of course, when you get a pet you need to care for them. That means food, medical care, and various miscellaneous supplies. In this story, clothing is optional. The shift to online ordering and increased pet ownership has created opportunity for investors. Here are four companies that have had recent pullbacks that are setup to buy the dip. Pet Stock #1: Chewy Inc (NYSE: CHWY) Chewy is a $23.97 billion market cap e-commerce company that sells pet food, supplies, medications and other pet-health products through their...

Yesterday, I posted on eight stocks that are considered “Rubber Band Trades.” Micron Technology, Inc (NASDAQ: MU) was one of these stocks in late August. Since that time, the company has received a series of bullish unusual option trades. That trend has continued this week and another large trade materialized on Wednesday that is dovetailing with Goldman Sachs upgrade on Monday. Goldman Sachs analyst Toshiya Hari upgraded the stock to buy from neutral with a $58 price target. The analyst pointed to capex cuts bring costs down and price stabilization for the core products of the company....

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (NYSE: FCAU) announced a revision to the merger agreement with Peugeot SA. The agreement was a necessity for the company following the liquidity impact of COVID-19 policies. The company’s desire was to preserve the economic value and balance of the original agreement. Investors appeared to like the deal as the price of FCAU shot up over 7% on Tuesday. However, just before the close there was a large option trade that happened in one print that suggests the move may be limited. The revision to the merger deal still needs to be approved by the Stellantis Board...