ZAGG +4% so far today...

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...what to do on that baby.

mb

11 Highly Shorted Stocks Seeing Bullish Moves in the Put/Call Ratio

by: Kapitall April 15, 2011

When considering potential short squeeze candidates, it’s helpful to look beyond the short data to see how other market players are interpreting the stock.

With that in mind, we ran a screen on today’s most shorted stocks, with short float above 15%. Looking to the options market, we screened that universe for those with the most bullish moves in put/call ratio over the last ten trading days. The final list of 11 is below.

Given the opinion of the options market, do you think these names could be on the cusp of significant short covering? Read below, using this list as a starting-off point for your own analysis into short squeeze candidates.

1. Auxilium Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AUXL): Drug Related Products Industry. Market cap of $1.05B. Short float at 19.27%, equivalent to 14.71 days of avg. daily trading volume. Put/Call ratio has decreased 64.80% over the last ten trading days (from 1.96 to 0.69). AUXL has a relatively low correlation to the market (beta = 0.76), which may be appealing to risk-averse investors. The stock has lost 42.22% over the last year.

2. Quality Systems Inc. (QSII): Healthcare Information Services Industry. Market cap of $2.42B. Short float at 26.21%, equivalent to 28.07 days of avg. daily trading volume. Put/Call ratio has decreased 60.29% over the last ten trading days (from 1.36 to 0.54). The stock has gained 29.55% over the last year.

3. Zumiez, Inc. (ZUMZ): Apparel Stores Industry. Market cap of $900.57M. Short float at 18.29%, equivalent to 8.27 days of avg. daily trading volume. Put/Call ratio has decreased 37.78% over the last ten trading days (from 1.35 to 0.84). ZUMZ is exhibiting strong upside momentum--currently trading 11.3% above its SMA20, 10.72% above its SMA50, and 20.8% above its SMA200. The stock has had a couple of great days, gaining 5.67% over the last week.

4. Briggs & Stratton Corp. (BGG): Diversified Machinery Industry. Market cap of $1.13B. Short float at 15.84%, equivalent to 24.23 days of avg. daily trading volume. Put/Call ratio has decreased 35.94% over the last ten trading days (from 0.64 to 0.41). The stock has had a good month, gaining 13.2%.

5. Kindred Healthcare Inc. (KND): Medical Instruments & Supplies Industry. Market cap of $944.05M. Short float at 15.97%, equivalent to 7.37 days of avg. daily trading volume. Put/Call ratio has decreased 35.00% over the last ten trading days (from 0.4 to 0.26). The stock has gained 36.73% over the last year.

6. RealD Inc. (RLD): Movie Production, Theaters Industry. Market cap of $1.49B. Short float at 18.57%, equivalent to 10.54 days of avg. daily trading volume. Put/Call ratio has decreased 33.33% over the last ten trading days (from 0.36 to 0.24). RLD is exhibiting strong upside momentum--currently trading 9.01% above its SMA20, 15.22% above its SMA50, and 24.54% above its SMA200. The stock has had a good month, gaining 31.06%.

7. Cephalon Inc. (CEPH): Biotechnology Industry. Market cap of $5.75B. Short float at 19.89%, equivalent to 5.54 days of avg. daily trading volume. Put/Call ratio has decreased 29.66% over the last ten trading days (from 1.18 to 0.83). CEPH has a relatively low correlation to the market (beta = 0.42), which may be appealing to risk-averse investors. The stock is exhibiting strong upside momentum--currently trading 12.15% above its SMA20, 22.95% above its SMA50, and 22.89% above its SMA200. The stock has had a good month, gaining 36.49%.

8. EMC Corporation (EMC): Data Storage Devices Industry. Market cap of $55.06B. Short float at 30.17%, equivalent to 2.65 days of avg. daily trading volume. Put/Call ratio has decreased 21.84% over the last ten trading days (from 0.87 to 0.68). The stock has gained 37.93% over the last year.

9. Wintrust Financial Corporation (WTFC): Regional Bank. Market cap of $1.27B. Short float at 15.72%, equivalent to 16.25 days of avg. daily trading volume. Put/Call ratio has decreased 17.00% over the last ten trading days (from 1 to 0.83). The stock has lost 7.52% over the last year.

10. MBIA Inc. (MBI): Surety & Title Insurance Industry. Market cap of $1.84B. Short float at 17.11%, equivalent to 5.4 days of avg. daily trading volume. Put/Call ratio has decreased 15.48% over the last ten trading days (from 0.84 to 0.71). This is a risky stock that is significantly more volatile than the overall market (beta = 2.57). The stock is currently stuck in a downtrend, trading 9.51% below its SMA20, 14.24% below its SMA50, and 11.73% below its SMA200. It's been a rough couple of days for the stock, losing 6.86% over the last week.

11. Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA): Auto Manufacturer. Market cap of $2.38B. Short float at 23.97%, equivalent to 7.52 days of avg. daily trading volume. Put/Call ratio has decreased 11.11% over the last ten trading days (from 0.63 to 0.56). It's been a rough couple of days for the stock, losing 5.89% over the last week.

CVX two ways to play it.

May 110 call is .84
May 105 call is 2.51

Gap at 107 area. strong support at 50 day MA.


DC

CIT Group May 40 Call is 1.83. Huge bullish engulfing candle yesterday.Stock has been coming down hard but looks like consolidating at current lows. indicators way oversold. might be nice corrective bounce play.


DC

I personally like JBLU, call for 7.50 Jan 12. It seems oil is heading down after the GS announcement and caused immediate reaction in the airline sector. IMO

k thx a lot... i will look at them as well and follow this board
cheers :)

i'm sorry i thought you were joking. that's just an expensive stock/option i'd guess although i've never priced it.

i do not have any recommendations. we're looking at/playing:

calls
MOS
TSO
MON

but the mkt is down today, you could probably find a good bargain somewhere.

hey
is that really bad? i know it's risky but wouldn't the reward be big as well? im looking at april 170 call option. i am not planning to make big buys, since this will be my first option trading. let me know. if you suggest where to start, that would be awesome

regards,

call for goldman sachs? are you kidding?

anyway, i recommend Guy Cohen's Options Made Easy.

In the Knowledge Center section of Scottrade there are tutorials and info for all your questions, exellent knowledge Center imo

hi
i use scotiaitrade.
let's hope they have something like that.
thx

And good luck to you also. Your broker may have lots of info on what you seek, Etrade and Scottrade both have exellent tutorials

hi
thx for your reply. i know what options are... i was reading a book called "the bible of options" but it wasn't the one i was looking for. but thx for your links, i will look into it.

glty

Start here, then you will have to apply to your broker to be allowed to trade options in your acct. Hope this helps you>>>

http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=An4bFDJSv5DYScLk3ZiU1c.bvZx4?p=How+to+trade+options&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&fr=yfp-t-701-1

Hi,

Where can I find more knowledge and information about trading options. Any books to recommend? I want to buy Call Option of Goldman Sachs for May.

Thanks

GLTYA

Optionable Stocks With Earnings Due Tomorrow

Ticker Company Sector Industry Country Market Cap Price Change Volume

ANGO AngioDynamics Inc. Healthcare Medical Instruments & Supplies USA 377.59 15.14 -0.53% 35369
ISCA International Speedway Corp. Services Sporting Activities USA 1519.73 31.51 3.75% 276870
KBH KB Home Industrial Goods Residential Construction USA 1074.21 12.2 -1.85% 5649224
LAYN Layne Christensen Co. Industrial Goods Heavy Construction USA 687.69 35.14 0.69% 48191
MBT Mobile Telesystems OJSC Technology Wireless Communications Russia 20587.08 21.48 -0.28% 1775126
RLOC ReachLocal, Inc. Services Advertising Agencies USA 518.93 18.7 -4.88% 195306
VRNT Verint Systems Inc. Technology Business Software & Services USA 1351.66 36.74 1.21% 76697

Did Anyone Play IP Calls This Week?

International Paper (IP), a global paper and packaging company, recognized long ago that its future depends on a steady supply of trees, says James McDonald, the company's sustainability manager. IP says it planted more than 4 billion tree seedlings between the 1950s and about four years ago, when it sold its forest lands. More recent efforts have focused on using less water and energy at its manufacturing operations. The company cut fossil fuel purchases by 21 percent from 2005 to 2010—in part by burning limbs and other biomass debris from tree processing—generating $221 million in annual savings at last year's prices.

Full Story:

www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_15/b4223025579541.htm?campaign_id=yhoo

Options Flow

Bearish activity detected in Fuqi International (NASDAQ: FUQI), with 2968 puts trading, or five times its recent average daily put volume.

Bullish flow detected in RadioShack (NYSE: RSH), with 20,965 calls trading, or five times its recent average daily call volume.

Bearish activity detected in Yamana Gold (NYSE: AUY), with 20,519 puts trading, or seven times its recent average daily put volume.

Increasing volume is also being seen in Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL), Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM), and Best Buy (NYSE: BBY).

Optionable stocks with volume > 2MM with earnings due next week.

Ticker Company Sector Industry Country Market Cap P/E Price Change Volume

MBT Mobile Telesystems OJSC Technology Wireless Communications Russia 20.64B 17.51 21.54 1.46% 3,384,214
MON Monsanto Co. Basic Materials Agricultural Chemicals USA 39.27B 35.69 73.17 1.26% 2,846,920
STZ Constellation Brands Inc. Consumer Goods Beverages - Wineries & Distillers USA 4.29B 21.58 20.50 1.08% 2,918,596

AMZN continued it's run north yesterday. typical trading pattern for it.

PG closed above 200 day MA with positive day ysterday. Chart shoes a textbook ascending triangle formed from low of 59.50 to resistance at 61.50. Target price is 63.00 for the current run. RSI closed above 50, MACD crossed positive.


DC

Optionable US Companies with Earnings Due Tomorrow

Ticker Company Sector Industry Market Cap Price Change Volume
CERP Cereplast, Inc. Consumer Goods Rubber & Plastics 67.68 5.21 -3.52% 79708
CONN Conns Inc. Services Electronics Stores 154.35 4.86 2.53% 191659
DMAN DemandTec, Inc. Technology Business Software & Services 412.03 13.24 0.38% 251677
EEE Evergreen Energy, Inc. Utilities Electric Utilities 58.37 3.09 13.19% 3200818
GPN Global Payments Inc. Services Business Services 3850.5 48.27 0.23% 394590
INN Summit Hotel Properties, Inc. C Financial Real Estate Development 368.94 9.87 0.10% 165530
KKD Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. Services Restaurants 461.09 6.83 1.94% 586892
KMX CarMax Inc. Services Auto Dealerships 7801.77 34.59 1.89% 2798786
LNN Lindsay Corporation Industrial Goods Farm & Construction Machinery 993.04 79.19 4.02% 1041789
LWSN Lawson Software, Inc. Technology Application Software 1956.9 11.96 0.08% 1036557
QRE QR Energy, LP Common Units repr Basic Materials Independent Oil & Gas 796.42 22.29 1.13% 108954
RBN Robbins & Myers Inc. Industrial Goods Diversified Machinery 1510.94 45.8 0.46% 451875
RECN Resources Connection Inc. Services Management Services 881.13 19.13 0.90% 211968
RXII RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation Healthcare Biotechnology 27.56 1.5 19.05% 4910142
WOR Worthington Industries, Inc. Basic Materials Steel & Iron 1514.22 20.41 2.10% 513537

OUCH: Put options got stung hard yesterday. index gained momentum as day wore on.

Today it is showing bullish start at over +4 already.

Call options

AMZN: looks like it is continuing the run it started few days ago.

PG: bullish engulfing. good support at 60.50 area. indicators pointing up.

UA: Huge bullish engulfing. big volume day yesterday. Nearing new high.



DC

IP (International Paper) S&P500

up today 4.71% after announcing reinstatement of dividend. Cramer writes about it and likes IP at these prices. Cramer complimentary of management turning the company around.

check it out.

finviz.com/quote.ashx?t=IP

EEE
earnings this week.

MOS Earnings This Week

Cargill plans to spin out its 64% stake of fertilizer giant Mosaic to stakeholders over a period of years. Cargill will exchange 179 million Mosaic MOS shares with its own shareholders for their Cargill stock. The remaining 107 million shares will be exchanged with bondholders. The deal will leave Mosaic without a majority shareholder, making it more attractive for a takeover. Some analysts have speculated that Australian giant BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) would be a likely suitor.

S&P FUTURES INDEX +2.4 last I looked. under 4 is neutral.watch before open to see whether to trade puts or calls.
http://money.cnn.com/data/premarket/index.html

possible Puts:

AMZN: closd near low of day. might be good short term trade.

JCP: Bearish engulfing caldle. each recent rally RSI was weak.

TIF: Bearish engulfing. chart shows when it drops, it drops hard. Might be good couple day trade.



DC

Would've been great to play both sides - straddle

Especially if you bought at $21.70 ((<:}

Great call Spoochy

EBIX

Calls would have made money too.

GM all

Anyone else watched the tankjob on EBIX today? Puts would've made us a killing

Great Call! Congrats!

AMZN Call up about $300 per contract from yesterday. wooooooohooo!

DC

AMZN up $4 already. looking very bullish.


DC

AMZN indicators looking bullish. very bullish engulfing candle, engulfed previous 3 or 4 days, the more days the candle engulfs the stronger the move. Call options aren't cheap but would be worth the money. AMZN doesn't trade sideways much. it's a rally or decline stock.
S&P futures index is +6 or better meaning the market is going to rally early.

DC

Top 20 (Ranked in Order) of IBD's "IBD 50" list.

The IBD 50 is a list of 50 top-rated growth stocks in IBD’s database with top fundamentals showing strong relative price strength in the market. The list is updated every Monday in Investor’s Business Daily.

Symbol Company Name
RVBD Riverbed Technology Inc
APKT Acme Packet Inc
LULU Lululemon Athletica
PCLN Priceline.Com Inc
AGP Amerigroup Corp
BIDU Baidu Inc Ads
SWKS Skyworks Solutions Inc
FOSL Fossil Inc
SLW Silver Wheaton Corp
OPEN Opentable Inc
NFLX Netflix Inc
ARUN Aruba Networks Inc
EBIX Ebix Inc
CMG Chipotle Mexican Grill
SINA Sina Corporation
HS Healthspring Inc
DECK Deckers Outdoor Corp
CXO Concho Resources Inc
PPO Polypore International
ALTR Altera Corp

These are stocks that are hugely up in volume percentage AND price today.

UP IN PRICE: Top stocks which are being BOUGHT heavily by institutional investors.

symbol price pricechg price% volume% companyname
------ -------- ------ ------------------- ---------------- ------------------------
BWC 30.24 1.18 4.04 256.14 Babcock & Wilcox Co
JOBS 55.67 2.65 5.00 229.08 Fifty One Job Inc Ads
HIT 50.93 1.51 3.06 182.89 Hitachi Ltd Adr 10 Com
YZC 32.09 1.13 3.65 178.45 Yanzhou Coal Mining Adr
BTU 70.34 2.67 3.95 159.87 Peabody Energy Corp
QCOM 52.38 1.88 3.72 124.67 Qualcomm Inc
DCI 57.31 0.77 1.36 122.79 Donaldson Co
CLF 87.70 3.97 4.74 119.51 Cliffs Natural Resources
SAP 56.28 1.54 2.81 116.61 S A P Ag Adr
CSX 76.91 3.17 4.30 114.13 C S X Corp
AAPL 338.49 8.48 2.57 114.01 Apple Inc
SSYS 46.20 1.30 2.90 111.01 Stratasys Inc
TBL 39.52 0.54 1.39 110.16 Timberland Co
CAT 102.21 1.81 1.80 107.77 Caterpillar Inc
AH 25.23 0.98 4.04 106.36 Accretive Health Inc
CRR 118.28 3.52 3.07 103.43 Carbo Ceramics Inc
SF 70.60 1.65 2.39 101.41 Stifel Financial Corp
BSFT 48.04 1.67 3.60 97.22 Broadsoft Inc
CBI 37.51 1.26 3.46 96.62 Chicago Bridge & Iron Co
FSLR 156.07 0.99 0.64 90.34 First Solar Inc

Stocks we like to follow for possible options action.

You can build a streamer and check them out:

A, AIG, BAC, BIDU, CHK, CNX, DB, JKS, LULU, MBT, MMM, MOS, MTZ, PANL, PAY, RIG, SINA, TSCO, UPS

Check out PANL. This was alerted to us yesterday morning to buy April calls. File it under the coulda, woulda, shoulda category of being tied up in other plays. Up over 26% since it was alerted to us.

A
AIG
BAC
BIDU
CHK
CNX
DB
JKS
LULU
MBT
MMM
MOS
MTZ
PANL
PAY
RIG
SINA
TSCO
UPS

Basic Materials Companies with Earnings News Due Tomorrow


Ticker Company Sector Industry Country Market Cap P/E Price Change Volume
BAK Braskem S.A. Basic Materials Specialty Chemicals Brazil 10039.79 24.12 -3.75% 183753
COIN Converted Organics Inc. Basic Materials Agricultural Chemicals USA 18.72 0.31 -4.58% 1359803
DPTR Delta Petroleum Corp. Basic Materials Independent Oil & Gas USA 273.81 0.93 -3.12% 5718972
NWPX Northwest Pipe Co. Basic Materials Steel & Iron USA 194.9 21.36 1.81% 45512
PURE Pure Bioscience Basic Materials Chemicals - Major Diversified USA 62.56 1.7 0.59% 140691
SHI Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co. Ltd. Basic Materials Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing China 3736.08 11.66 51.3 -1.14% 28839
SUF Sulphco Inc. Basic Materials Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing USA 16.27 0.16 0.00% 687757
TAT TransAtlantic Petroleum Ltd. Basic Materials Oil & Gas Drilling & Exploration USA 1058.61 2.96 -3.27% 1438286
WHX Whiting USA Trust I Basic Materials Oil & Gas Drilling & Exploration USA 216.49 5.76 15.95 2.11% 203209

Did anyone up CHK, PAY, PANL, CNX April calls.

wow. what a great day to start.

FSLR is a monster. That one I did a chicken trade(straddle) on last year. It soared on the earning report. I made a nice profit on the call option. I held the put and sold it two days later, got some back. IF I had held it another week I would have made a profit on the put as well. Great straddle trade stock.

DC

DOWN IN PRICE: Top stocks which are being SOLD heavily by institutional investors.

symbol price pr chg pr pct vol pct co name
------ -------- ------- --------------------- ---------------- ------------------------
HIT 48.06 -1.89 -3.78 1,374.87 Hitachi Ltd Adr 10 Com
FGP 25.26 -1.90 -7.00 1,333.31 Ferrellgas Partners L P
LZ 133.86 -0.82 -0.61 1,213.45 Lubrizol Corp
MDSO 22.34 -2.99 -11.80 769.84 Medidata Solutions Inc
CCJ 31.02 -1.60 -4.90 691.91 Cameco Corp
SPH 53.29 -2.32 -4.17 655.61 Suburban Propane Partnrs
SHAW 33.70 -1.17 -3.36 548.82 Shaw Group Inc
TM 80.71 -1.02 -1.25 531.87 Toyota Motor Corp Adr
CRZO 30.62 -3.63 -10.60 501.27 Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc
EPD 39.48 -1.62 -3.94 460.49 Enterprise Products Ptnr
AFL 50.00 -3.90 -7.24 443.07 A F L A C Inc
BWC 30.68 -0.60 -1.92 422.68 Babcock & Wilcox Co
SNE 30.54 -0.54 -1.74 413.59 Sony Corp American Shrs
VOLC 23.39 -1.38 -5.57 356.45 Volcano Corp
PRE 73.32 -2.12 -2.81 315.50 Partnerre Ltd
VC 63.03 -0.51 -0.80 262.33 Visteon Corporation
BPL 61.66 -1.91 -3.00 251.72 Buckeye Partners L P
DSW 37.81 -3.40 -8.25 249.78 D S W Inc
PRU 59.50 -1.76 -2.87 223.02 Prudential Financial Inc
TIF 57.22 -2.64 -4.41 222.37 Tiffany & Co

UP IN PRICE: Top stocks which are being BOUGHT heavily by institutional investors.
symbol price prc hg pr pct vol pct co name
------ -------- ------- ------------------- ---------------- ------------------------
PAY 51.05 3.14 6.55 258.68 Verifone Systems Inc
FSLR 155.06 8.15 5.55 229.29 First Solar Inc
FCFS 35.24 2.34 7.11 125.34 First Cash Financial Svs
ADS 79.50 1.38 1.77 120.76 Alliance Data Sys Corp
NFLX 216.77 15.57 7.74 96.70 Netflix Inc
JKS 26.87 2.05 8.26 91.18 Jinkosolar Hldg Co Ads
TAL 35.50 0.52 1.49 42.57 Tal International Group
CMI 98.52 0.97 0.99 40.61 Cummins Inc
TPX 49.26 1.16 2.41 16.05 Tempur Pedic Intl Inc

Options always expire the 3rd friday of the month. You do not want to be in an option after the first friday of the same month. They lose value too fast to make money on from that point.

There are ways to do it but that's best left to seasoned option traders.

DC

Thx for your help guys...jsut started trading options today and reading/learning all I can.

These companies allhave earnings reports coming out this month.




DC

Go to this link, download the desktop portal, it's free. go to confirurable screener, and under industry you can select Gold. there's 3 pages of companies. then you can select earnings report from there and narrow down the companies coming out with news soon.


http://www.the-market-toolbox.com/radio/index.html

DC

yes. this is the way i do it but i'm sure others have good ways too. i use the screener function on finviz filter for earnings due tomorrow. Filter for basic materials. here is the link:

finviz.com/screener.ashx?v=111&f=earningsdate_tomorrow,sec_basicmaterials

here is the output.

Ticker Company Sector Industry Country Market Cap P/E Price Change Volume
AAV Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd. Basic Materials Oil & Gas Drilling & Exploration Canada 1326.27 7.98 -0.99% 824755
AMCF Andatee China Marine Fuel Services Corporation Basic Materials Oil & Gas Equipment & Services China 42.76 4.45 4.17 -6.29% 18795
AXAS Abraxas Petroleum Corp. Basic Materials Independent Oil & Gas USA 373.03 54.22 4.8 -1.64% 638936
FTK Flotek Industries Inc. Basic Materials Oil & Gas Equipment & Services USA 186.09 5.65 -6.46% 754348
GSI General Steel Holdings, Inc. Basic Materials Steel & Iron China 133.97 2.44 -0.41% 295169
HNR Harvest Natural Resources Inc. Basic Materials Independent Oil & Gas USA 515.38 24.56 14.86 -2.43% 167252
IVAN Ivanhoe Energy Inc. Basic Materials Independent Oil & Gas Canada 1036.39 2.81 -9.06% 2229896
TRGL Toreador Resources Corp. Basic Materials Independent Oil & Gas France 317.71 12.11 -1.50% 171140
UEC Uranium Energy Corp. Basic Materials Industrial Metals & Minerals USA 273.42 3.45 -11.99% 4190359
VGZ Vista Gold Corp. Basic Materials Gold USA 151.88 3.11 -4.60% 440043
VTG Vantage Drilling Company Basic Materials Oil & Gas Drilling & Exploration USA 560.89 1.89 -2.58% 1460516
WG Willbros Group Inc. Basic Materials Oil & Gas Equipment & Services USA 519.39 27.13 9.85 -9.26% 1410678

Is there any easy way to find when big miners/precious metal stocks will be reporting their earnings? Thx for any help.