Selected Dividends and Earnings for September 20, 2009 to September 26, 2009

Monday, September 21, 2009

Dividends

• Developers Diversified Realty Co. (DDR) - $0.020 payable 15-Oct

Earnings

• Lennar Corporation (LEN) before market open

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Dividends

• Safeway Inc. (SWY) - $0.100 payable 15-Oct
• Sempra Energy (SRE) - $0.390 payable 15-Oct
• Xcel Energy (XEL) - $0.245 payable 20-Oct

Earnings

• Carnival Corporation & Carnival plc (CCL) before market open
• ConAgra Foods (CAG)

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Dividends

• Frontier Oil (FTO) - $0.060 payable 14-Oct
• Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation (RL) - $0.050 payable 9-Oct
• Staples, Inc. (SPLS) - $0.083 payable 15-Oct

Earnings

• AutoZone Inc. (AZO) before market open
• Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY)
• Cintas Corporation (CTAS) after market close
• General Mills, Inc. (GIS) before market open
• Paychex (PAYX) after market close

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Dividends

• Avalonbay Communities (AVB) - $0.893 payable 15-Oct
• Harley-Davidson (HOG) - $0.100 payable 8-Oct
• Philip Morris International (PM) - $0.580 payable 9-Oct

Earnings

• McCormick & Company, Inc. (MKC) before market open

Friday, September 25, 2009

Earnings

• KB Home (KBH) before market open

Underlined tickers are those that are particularly interesting for me; they may be on my watch list or I may have open positions (i.e. likely naked put options or the underlying).

Selected Dividends and Earnings for September 21, 2008 to September 27, 2008

Monday, September 22, 2008

Dividends

• Kraft Foods (KFT) - $0.290 payable 8-Oct
• Pulte Homes Inc. (PHM) - $0.040 payable 1-Oct

Earnings

• AutoZone Inc. (AZO) before market open

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Dividends

• Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. (CME) - $5.000 payable 10-Oct
• Safeway Inc. (SWY) - $0.083 payable 16-Oct
• Sempra Energy (SRE) - $0.350 payable 15-Oct
• Xcel Energy (XEL) - $0.238 payable 20-Oct

Earnings

• Lennar Corporation (LEN) before market open

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Dividends

• Danaher (DHR) - $0.030 payable 31-Oct
• Developers Diversified Realty Co. (DDR) - $0.690 payable 7-Oct
• Frontier Oil (FTO) - $0.060 payable 16-Oct
• Hercules (HPC) - $0.050 payable 17-Oct
• Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation (RL) - $0.050 payable 10-Oct

Earnings

• Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY)
• Nike (NKE)
• Paychex (PAYX) after market close

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Dividends

• American Eagle Outfitters Inc (AEO) - $0.100 payable 10-Oct

Earnings

• Discover Financial Services (DFS) before market open
• McCormick & Company, Inc. (MKC)

Friday, September 26, 2008

Dividends

• Boston Properties (BXP) - $0.680 payable 31-Oct
• Deere & Company (DE) - $0.280 payable 3-Nov
• Dillard's (DDS) - $0.040 payable 3-Nov
• Edison International (EIX) - $0.305 payable 31-Oct
• Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) - $0.150 payable 21-Oct
• Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. (HST) - $0.200 payable 15-Oct
• Illinois Tool Works Inc. (ITW) - $0.310 payable 14-Oct
• Massey Energy Company (MEE) - $0.050 payable 14-Oct
• Molex Inc. (MOLX) - $0.153 payable 24-Oct
• Nicor Inc. (GAS) - $0.465 payable 1-Nov
• Nucor (NUE) - $0.520 payable 11-Nov
• PG&E Corporation (PCG) - $0.390 payable 15-Oct
• The Dow Chemical Company (DOW) - $0.420 payable 30-Oct
• U.S. Bancorp (USB) - $0.425 payable 15-Oct
• Umpqua Holdings Corporation (UMPQ) - $0.190 payable 15-Oct
• Windstream Communications (WIN) - $0.250 payable 15-Oct
• Xerox Corporation (XRX) - $0.043 payable 31-Oct
• XTO Energy Inc. (XTO) - $0.120 payable 15-Oct

Earnings

• Jabil Circuit, Inc. (JBL) before market open
• KB Home (KBH) before market open

Underlined tickers are those that are particularly interesting for me; they may be on my watch list or I may have open positions (i.e. likely naked put options or the underlying).

Wachovia (WB) surprises, but not in the way you think

Wachovia (WB) reported Q1 2008 today with a loss instead of the profit expected by analyst consensus. Dividend was cut to $1.50 per year. Neither of those things were surprising. In fact, I would argue that it was mostly priced into the options premiums.

The surprise was that they pushed up earnings from Friday to Monday. This hasn't happened to in recent memory and as a result, I was caught with some positions that I wanted to close / roll down. But overall, it was a cheap lesson. A few hundred dollars for a lesson that there are temporal surprises.

Still long Wachovia (WB) through a variety of naked puts. I am trying to figure out how exactly to position myself going forward. The pricing of new common stock at $24 is reassuring since that sets a near term bottom (the new issuance was oversubscribed).

I have been building reserves (not unlike banks) so that even with a 10% drop in a core holding no longer threaten margin calls. I have been deleveraging by reducing the number of share I hold. For example, suppose I have 200 shares of BBBY get called away at 30. I would normally write 2 naked puts at 30 for the next month. Recently, I would instead write 1 contract. This is a natural deleveraging that does not force me to realize losses unnecessarily. Also, I have been closing winning positions that no longer have sufficient reward for the margin required.

Shifted HD hedges to XHB

Yesterday, my GTC order to buy to close +HDCZ (HD Mar 32.5 call option) for 0.05 hit. This was a covered call I sold on some HD stock I was assigned from previous put selling at the 32.5-37.5 levels. At 0.05, it was not a good hedge and wasn't earning me much time premium. Given that HD reported today, I figured I'd want to get the upside if there was any. There wasn't and the reason I was able to close the options yesterdays was because other people already knew that and the implied volatility had fallen. Either way, I am just following my risk management plan.

I have been wanting to short some XHB for a while now but they are hard to borrow. So yesterday, I tried to sell some XHB Mar 21 call options naked at the ask but that didn't work. And for the first time in a while, luck was on my side. Despite more nasty economic numbers, we get another 6.4% gain in XHB lead by gains in HOV and LEN. So I sold a few front month call options naked at the 22 strike for around 1.50. This should give me a short position at 23.50 which is a little below the 200 day moving average. I haven't done much shorting before so I am just playing around. I figured that with my housing heavy portfolio (CBG, HD, BBBY), having a bit of a hedge on XHB couldn't be that bad.

I also tried to sell some April 65 FWLT puts (idea stolen from here) for 3.90 but it didn't execute. I like going long after a big drop but I have learned from experience. Stocks that fall hard tend to fall slowly afterwards. Often, you'll get another chance at the current price some time later or at a better price. So, I wasn't too eager to buy on an up day. But I will try again tomorrow, if it keeps dropping. 61.10 is an ok breakeven price for FWLT but not the sort of value I am looking for. For example, it is not as good of a value as AEO at 15.

I am practicing market discipline right now and keeping buying power high while hedging any of my positions that hit near term highs. I want to get out of as much stock as I can while maintaining positive delta. If EMC keeps going up, I am going to sell calls on my stock and start closing the puts I recently put on.

Last minute juggling of SIRF and BBBY

It's finally here; February options expiration is today (technically tomorrow).

NVIDIA (NVDA) is down again and my Mar 22.5 puts are now in the money. I am not adding more delta until either I can write a lower strike for enough time premium. Through no fault of my own, I sold the puts near the maximum time premium. The option contracts are quoted 1.90/2.00 right now. NVDA is around 22.15 so they have 0.35 intrinsic value and 1.55/1.65 time value.

I tried to close out my AEO/+AEOBD covered call but TD Ameritrade is dumb and won't let me. It says I don't have enough margin sell short AEO and buy +AEOBD. Little does it understand that I am simply trying to close the position. No big deal though, was trying to save a couple of cents on commissions.

As I suspected, BBBY would be interesting. It's down 0.84 to 29.07 so it appears my Feb 30 calls are going to go worthless. In a stupid move (to save a couple dollars), I am selling Mar 30 calls without buying back the Feb 30. Essentially, rolling out a month and then shorting the near month option. If you look at the transaction as two parts, the first part is smart (another 1.05 a share of time premium) and the second part is a little dumb (0.05 on a bet that BBBY won't rally this afternoon above 30). I would be ok if it did because I have naked puts for the May and Aug expirations so I have enough delta that I would be net long this position no matter what (for reasonable rallies).

I closed some Feb 7.5 puts on SIRF for a small 20% gain (Added delta to SIRF and WB amid market freefall). I am leaving the Mar 7.5 position on for now. I am currently in the black on that position due to reduction in implied volatility. There is a lot more calls than puts at the Feb 7.5 strike. I think this is contributing selling pressure to keep the price below the 7.5 strike (SIRF touched 7.5 a few days ago). So there is a chance that after the expiration, the stock could drift higher once the selling pressure is removed. So I am going to spin the wheel on the Mar 7.5. I will probably try to close it when the time premium goes down some more.

And here comes the crash, well maybe.

I am all excited because the markets are down and I don't feel so bad about putting on hedges. I really wished I had been able to short XHB. Instant 8% right there. Oh well, all my consumer discretionary are tanking (AEO, BBBY, HD) as well as many of my financials (WB).

I am short a bunch of the near month in the money calls so today is not bad. I am still losing a 5% on my portfolio but given the leverage I am using, that's a good day.