Filed under: Major movement, Earnings reports, Good news, Industry, American Express (AXP), Options, Technical Analysis
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) shares are rising this day after competitor American Express (NYSE: AXP) posted a first-quarter profit of $991 million, or 85 cents a share, ahead of analysts’ estimates of 81 cents per share. AXP’s international customer base nearly tripled in the quarter, which could be a good sign for V. If you think that the stock won’t fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on V.
After opening trading at $55.00 on March 19, the stock has hit a new high today. V opened this morning at $76.00. So far this day the stock has hit a low of $73.91 and a high of $76.08. As of 12:25, V is trading at $74.67, up $2.37 (3.2%). The chart for V looks bullish and steady.
For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a June bull-put credit spread below the $60 range. A bull-put credit spread is an options position that combines the buy and sale of put options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn’t do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we’ll make a 6.4% return in just two months as long as V is above $60 at June expiration. Visa would have to fall by more than 19% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.
V hasn’t been below $60 since just after its IPO and has shown support around $70 recently. This trade could be risky if the company’s earnings (due out on Monday) disappoint, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by the support the stock might find between $60 and $65, where it made intermediate bottoms over the past two months.
Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer.
DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in V or AXP.
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