Comments on: Protective Put on EZPW before earnings call

By: market samurai review

market samurai review — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:02:32 +0000

A good rule is not to hold through earnings. You may leave some money on the table if the stock gaps up but on balance it’s a losing proposition.

By: carp fishing

carp fishing — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:23:03 +0000

I know its bad to try and time the market, but I’m looking to get out of some positions in stocks I own and was wondering if stocks generally rise right before earnings calls, if no negative news is present?

By: Elias

Elias — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:12:18 +0000

PFstock, I chose to benchmark against the S&P 500 becuase that would be my investment of choice if I wasn’t an active investor. I validate my active investing by being able to outperform the S&P 500, thus creating value for my actions.

By: pfstock

pfstock — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:53:03 +0000

It looks like you got worried that the earnings call might not go as expected. At this point EZPW is well above the $12.50 strike, so it seems likely that those options will expire. Did you consider entering a protective stop order instead of buying puts? I am curious about your reasoning here. I was still puzzling over why Fidelity didn't charge you a per option commission. But I figured out that even though Fidelity option commissions are $10.95 + $.75 per contract, they charge a maximum of 5% of the principal or the minimum commission of $10.95, since it is a small transaction. Lastly, about striving to outperform the S&P 500, you might want to re-read my post about The Backward Investor.