Thursday, February 9, 2017

GILD - Earnings Play Turns Bad

Whenever I try to make a quick buck, it ends up biting me in the arse.  On Tuesday, $GILD was trading in the range of $73 per share.  I sell to open (STO) a put on $GILD just before earnings to collect $46 in premiums with a strike price of $70 expiring Feb 10th.  

OptionAccounts (Position)
GILD 10FEB2017 70 P(-1)
$GILD reported after closing with declining sales and less than optimistic guidance for next year.  Traders hit $GILD hard bringing the stock down 10% in a matter of two days, closing at $65.59 per share on Feb 9th.

What are my options now?
  1. Buy to close (BTC) put to avoid forking over $7000 (assignment) and take a loss of about $397 as of today's market
  2. Take assignment of 100 shares @ $70 and my average would be $69.54/share.  I would sell covered call to bring down my average cost base.
  3. Roll my short put to a further out date to avoid taking a loss and tying up my capital.  BTC put for a loss then STO put to a further out date at the same or lower strike to offset the loss.
I haven't decided what to do yet.  But most likely, I'll either pick option 2 or 3.  I do not like to admit defeat just yet.  When life throws you lemons, just make lemonade!

Update on Feb 10th:
I decided to pick option 3, so I rolled out my short put to March 17, 2017 in hopes that $GILD will recover.  If $GILD is over $70 by March 17th, my put will be worthless.  I'll stand to make +46-354+431= $123 instead of taking the loss and my cash will be left untouched. 



Update on Mar 17th:
The day has finally come!  So how did my $GILD play out?  $GILD closed at $69.06.  I decided to take assignment (average cost $70-$1.23) and most likely sell it on the open market next Monday.  Hopefully, $GILD will hold above this price range and I can make a few bucks!

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