In the past, we have been expressing the view the equity markets were oversold and a rebound was likely to occur at any time. Last week’s oversized bounce was probably due to two factors, the parliamentary vote in Greece forestalling a near term default event and the end of QE2 with the resulting bubble in the Treasury market that began deflating. For the time being rising interest rates are reflecting a return to the “risk-on” condition.
As we caught an upturn in the market, all of our positions are deep in profits. We have captured 90% or more of the total profits in most of our put positions. Even though we are 10 days from expiration of July options, we will take profits on all five positions today. This will give us a total of $3,992.50 profit in less than one month. This is a return of 3.99% on the starting balance of $100,000. These positions were initated on June 27 so we are only 6 trading days (8 total days) into the trade. This is an annualized return of 182% which is hard to beat in most portfolios. Here is the positions today before selling them (see July Results).
Since July options expire on July 16, we will add new positions for August expiration. We closed all July put positions so we did not get any stock put to us. The new positions are shown in the chart below (see new positions). We will write more puts on Under Armour (UA), Cummings (CMI) and Coach (COH): all with new strike prices in August 2011. We will add two new stocks with put writes: MetroPCS Communications (PCS) and Celgene (CELG). This creates a total of $6,190 in premiums received from selling August puts from these new positions (see the breakdown by position in chart). This is a return of 5.98% based on the portfolio value of $103, 579.37 shown in chart. In addition we invested $3,978 of our profits in 650 shares of Alpine Total Dynamic Dividend Fund (AOD) which pays a monthly dividend and has a yield of 10.7%. We will continue to invest profits in monthly dividend payers.
New Positions - Click to enlarge
Under Armour, Inc. (UA) is engaged in the development, marketing and distribution of branded performance apparel, footwear and accessories for men, women and youth. The Company’s products are sold worldwide and are worn by athletes at all levels, from youth to professional, on playing fields around the globe, as well as consumers with active lifestyles. Its products are offered in over 23,000 retail stores worldwide. Most of its products are sold in North America. The Company’s trademarks include UNDER ARMOUR, HEATGEAR, COLDGEAR, ALLSEASONGEAR and the Under Armour UA Logo. The Company’s product offerings consist of apparel, footwear and accessories for men, women and youth.
Cummins Inc. (CMI) designs, manufactures, distributes and services diesel and natural gas engines, electric power generation systems and engine-related component products, including filtration, exhaust aftertreatment, fuel systems, controls and air handling systems. The Company sells its products to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), distributors and other customers worldwide. It has four segments: Engine, Power Generation, Components and Distribution. It serves its customers through a network of more than 600 company owned and independent distributor locations and more than 6,000 dealer locations in more than 190 countries and territories. In November 2010, it purchased a majority interest in a previously independent North American distributorship. On January 4, 2010, it acquired the 70% interest in Cummins Western Canada (CWC). In April 2011, the Company sold its exhaust business to Global Tube.
Coach, Inc. (COH) is a marketer of fine accessories and gifts for women and men. Coach’s product offerings include handbags, women’s and men’s accessories, footwear, business cases, jewelry, wearables, sunwear, travel bags, fragrance and watches. Coach operates in two business segments: Direct-to-Consumer and Indirect. During the fiscal year ended July 3, 2010, the Company introduced Poppy, which offers a variety of silhouettes. It also introduced additional lifestyle collections. The accessories include women’s and men’s small leather goods, novelty accessories and women’s and men’s belts. The Company’s footwear is distributed through select Coach retail stores, coach.com and over 950 United States department stores. The wearables category consists of jackets, sweaters, gloves, hats and scarves, including both cold weather and fashion. During fiscal 2010, Estee Lauder Companies Inc., through its subsidiary, Aramis Inc., became Coach’s fragrance licensee.
MetroPCS Communications, Inc. (PCS) is a wireless telecommunications provider in the United States measured by the number of subscribers served. The Company offers wireless broadband mobile services under the MetroPCS brand in selected metropolitan areas in the United States. The Company provides a variety of wireless communications services to its subscribers on a no long-term contract, paid-in-advance basis. As of December 31, 2010, the Company had approximately 8.1 million subscribers. Its products and services include voice services, data services, custom calling features and advanced handsets. At December 31, 2010, the Company had thirteen operating segments based on geographic regions within the United States: Atlanta, Boston, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Orlando/Jacksonville, Philadelphia, Sacramento, San Francisco and Tampa/Sarasota.
Celgene Corporation (CELG) is a global integrated biopharmaceutical company. The Company is primarily engaged in the discovery, development and commercialization of therapies designed to treat cancer and immune-inflammatory related diseases, such as immunomodulation and intracellular signaling pathways in hematology, oncology and immune-inflammatory diseases. Its primary commercial-stage products include REVLIMID, VIDAZA, THALOMID (inclusive of Thalidomide Celgene and Thalidomide Pharmion), ABRAXANE and ISTODAX. Other sources of revenue include sales of FOCALIN to Novartis Pharma AG (Novartis), which is a licensing agreement with Novartis, which entitles it to royalties on FOCALIN XR and the entire RITALIN family of drugs. On January 15, 2010, it acquired Gloucester Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Gloucester), which is a privately held pharmaceutical company. On October 15, 2010, the Company acquired Abraxis BioScience, Inc. (Abraxis).
