Filed under: Earnings reports, Good news, Industry, Apple Inc (AAPL), Ideal Purchase (BBY), Options, Technical Analysis
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) shares are trading higher this day after Ideal Buy (NYSE: BBY) reported a first-quarter profit that beat analyst expectations, saying that its expansion of AAPL in-store shops boosted revenue for the quarter. If you think that Apple 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 the stock.
After hitting a one-year low of $111.62 in August, the stock hit a one-year high of $202.96 in December. Apple opened this morning at $178.10. So far this day the stock has hit a low of $177.41 and a high of $181.27. As of 12:15, AAPL is trading at $180.50, up $3.66 (2.0%). The chart for AAPL looks bullish but deteriorating, while S&P gives the stock a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) purchase rating.
For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would think about an October bull-put credit spread below the $115 range. A bull-put credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase 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 four months as long as AAPL is above $115 at October expiration. Apple would have to fall by more than 36% before we would begin to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.
AAPL hasn’t been below $115 for more than a few days in the past year and has shown support around $175 recently. This trade could be risky if the company’s earnings (due out in late July) disappoint, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by the support the stock might find at its 200 day moving average, which is currently around $160 and rising.
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 AAPL or BBY.
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