Today’s tickers: AFL, IYR, ENDP, ABC, GE, & DOW

AFL – The world’s largest seller of supplemental health insurance reported that second-quarter profits fell 35% on “larger-than-usual realized investment losses”. Despite the decline in earnings, options activity on the stock today revealed bullish sentiment by investors amid a more than 8% rally in shares to $38.34. Traders hoping for further upward momentum purchased 1,200 calls at the September 40 strike price for an average premium of 1.37 apiece. Call-buyers will profit if shares of AFL climb 8% higher and surpass the breakeven point at $41.37 by expiration. Additional bullish positioning was seen at the November 35 strike price where 5,000 puts were shed for 2.63 per contract. Investors short the put options receive premium in exchange for bearing the risk that shares decline by expiration. If the puts land in-the-money, traders would have shares of the underlying put to them at an effective price of $32.37. Otherwise, these put-sellers retain the full 2.63 premium. – AFLAC, Inc.

IYR – Shares of the U.S. real estate exchange-traded fund have moved nearly 4.5% higher during today’s trading session to stand at $36.14. Contrarian option traders flooded the ETF, despite the surge in shares, and drove the put-to-call ratio up to more than 19-to-1. The favored approach taken by bearish investors today was the plain-vanilla put spread. The first of two trades up for discussion involved the purchase of 3,000 puts at the September 36 strike price for a premium of 2.00 apiece spread against the sale of 3,000 puts at the lower September 33 strike for 85 cents each. The net cost of the trade amounts to 1.15 and yields maximum potential profits of 1.85 per contract if shares slip to $33.00 by expiration. A much larger put spread was established further out in the January 2010 contract. The trade may have been the work of an investor seeking downside protection on a long position in the underlying. Otherwise, the trader responsible for the spread is hoping to amass profits on bearish movement in the stock. The transaction involved the purchase of 40,000 puts at the January 30 strike price for 1.97 each, spread against the sale of 40,000 puts at the lower January 25 strike for an average premium of 77 cents per contract. The net cost amounts to 1.20 to the investor who will realize maximum gains of 3.80 if the IYR declines to…
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