Today’s tickers: COH, BIG & MOLX
COH – Coach, Inc. – Concern that growth may be slowing in China sparked selling pressure in shares of luxury goods retailers such as Coach, Inc. this week. Shares in the largest U.S. luxury leather goods seller fell 0.90% to $53.51 on Friday afternoon, adding to Thursday’s losses of roughly 6.0%. A three-legged options trade initiated on the stock this morning suggests one strategist expects shares to continue to decline in the next couple of months. The trader may be assuming an outright bearish or protective stance on Coach ahead of the company’s first-quarter earnings report on October 25.
The investor appears to have sold 1,100 calls at the Nov. $57.5 strike for a premium of $2.50 each, in order to offset the cost of buying the 1,100-lot bearish Nov. $43/$50 put spread purchased at a net premium of $2.20 per contract. The trader pockets a net credit of $0.30 per contract on the transaction, which he keeps in full as long as shares in Coach fail to rally above $57.50 at expiration. Additional profits are available to the investor should COH’s shares fall 6.6% from the current price of $53.51 to breach $50.00. Maximum potential profits of $7.30 per contract, including the net credit of $0.30, pad the investor’s hand-stitched fine Italian leather wallet if the stock drops 19.6% to settle beneath $43.00 a share at November expiration.
The bear put spread normally limits an investor’s maximum loss potential to the net premium paid, however, the addition of the short calls introduces additional risk to the position. If…
