There was a time, a long time ago, that people actually made telephone calls and the ones on the receiving end didn’t have Caller ID to screen those calls.
Back in those days, without any screening device, there were lots of wrong numbers. Sometimes, if it got to the point that you actually began to recognize the voice on the other end, those wrong numbers could become annoying. Of course, the time of the day also played a role in just how annoying those wrong numbers could be and they always seemed to come at the worst of times.
For example, just imagine how bad the timing might be if you discovered that the wrong GDP numbers had played a role, maybe a major role, in helping stock markets move higher in the belief that interest rate increases weren’t going to be imminent.
Somehow, that’s not as funny as the intentionally wrong number prank phone calls made by Bart Simpson.
Although anyone could make the honest mistake of dialing a wrong number, in the back of your mind you always wondered what kind of an idiot doesn’t know how to dial? After all, it was just a simple question of transposing numbers into action.
Otherwise, numbers were a thing of beauty and simply reflected the genius of mankind in their recognition and manipulations.
For many years I loved arithmetic and then I learned to really enjoy mathematics. The concept that “numbers don’t lie” had lots of meaning to me until I learned about interpretative statistics and came to realize that numbers may not lie, but people can coerce them into compromising themselves to the point that the numbers themselves are blamed.
As we’ve all been on an FOMC watch trying to predict when a data driven Federal Reserve would begin the process of increasing rates it’s a little disconcerting to learn that one of the key input numbers, the GDP, may not have been terribly accurate.
In other words, the numbers themselves may have lied.
As those GDP reports had been coming in over the past few months and had been consistently disappointing to our expectations, many wondered how they could possibly be reflecting a reality that seemed to be so opposite to what logic had suggested would be the case.
But faced with the sanctity of numbers it seemed a worthless exercise to question the illogical.
While many of us are wary of economic statistics that we see coming from overseas, particularly what may be self-serving numbers from China, there’s basically been a sense that official US government reports, while subject to revision, are at least consistent in their accuracy or inaccuracy, as the methodology is non-discriminatory and applied equally.
It really comes as a blow to confidence when the discovery is made that the methodology itself may be flawed and that it may not be a consistently applied flaw.
The word for that, one that we heard all week long, was “seasonality.”
The realization that the first quarter GDP was inaccurate puts last month’s FOMC minutes released this past week in a completely different light. While the FOMC Governors may not have been inclined to increase rates as early as this upcoming June’s meeting, that inclination may at least have been partially based upon erroneous data. That erroneous data, although perhaps isolated to a particular time of the year, therefore, may also impact the rate of change observed in subsequent periods. Those projected trends are the logical extension of discrete data points and may also contribute to policy decisions.
But not so readily once you find that you may have been living a lie.
Next week, a holiday shortened trading week, ends with the release of the GDP and may leave us with the question of just what to do with that data.
This past Friday, Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen gave an address and didn’t offer any new insights into the thoughts of the FOMC, particularly as the issue of the integrity of data was concerned.
With the S&P 500 resting for the week at what may either be a resistance level or a support level, what she also didn’t do was to offer stock market bulls a reason to believe that a dovish FOMC would take a June interest rate increase off the table to offer a launching pad.
As the market sits right below its record closing highs and with earnings season begin to wind down, taking those always questionable numbers away with them until the next earnings season begins in less than 2 months, all we have left is the trust in the consistency and accuracy of economic reports. However, taking a look at both the Shanghai and Hang Seng Indexes, maybe questionable numbers isn’t such a bad thing, after all.
As usual, the week’s potential stock selections are classified as being in Traditional, Double Dip Dividend, Momentum or “PEE” categories.
Coach (NYSE:COH) and Michael Kors (NYSE:KORS) have been very much linked in people’s minds ever since Coach’s very disappointing sales and earnings report in July 2013. At that time the storyline was that Coach was staid and uninteresting and had been supplanted in all ways by Kors.
To a large degree that mindset still continues, despite Kors steep descent from its highs of 2014. What has gone unnoticed, however, is that other than for the 6 month period after that disastrous earnings report in 2013, Coach shares have actually out-performed Kors through most of the time thereafter.
Coach didn’t fare terribly well after its most recent earnings report and its price has since returned back to where it had built a comfortable base. With an ex-dividend date upcoming the following week I think that I’m ready to add shares to a more expensive pre-existing lot that has been waiting for more than a year to be assigned and the past 8 months to be joined by another lot to help alleviate its misery.
With that upcoming dividend and with this week being a shortened trading week and offering lessened option premiums, I would likely consider a purchase of Coach shares and the sale of an extended weekly option, probably also seeking some capital gains on shares by using an out of the money strike price.
Kors on the other hand is reporting earnings this week and the option market is implying a 7.5% price movement. While not a very big differential, a 1% ROI may be achieved with the sale of a weekly put option if the shares fall less than 8.3% next week. If willing to add an additional week to the put contract expiration that would allow a fall of almost 10% before being at risk of assignment of shares.
Normally I don’t like to go more than a week at a time on a put sale unless needing to rollover a put that is deep in the money in order to prevent or delay assignment. However, the premiums this week are somewhat lower because of the holiday and that means that risk is a little bit higher if selling puts with a particular ROI as a goal in mind.
While Coach has been resistant to being buried and cast away, it’s hard to find a company that has had more requiems written for it than GameStop (NYSE:GME).
With game makers having done well of late there may be reason to delay a public performance of any requiem for yet another quarter as GameStop continues to confound investors who have long made it a very popular short position.
Unlike Kors, which pays no dividend, I do factor a dividend into the equation if selling puts in advance or after earnings are reported. GameStop reports earnings this week and will be ex-dividend sometime during the June 2015 option cycle.
With the option market having an implied price move of 6.2% as earnings are released, a 1% ROI can be achieved with the sale of a weekly put if shares don’t fall more than 6.8%. However, if faced with assignment, I would try to rollover the put options unless the ex-dividend date is announced and it is in the coming week. In that event, I would take assignment and consider the sale of calls with the added goal of also capturing the dividend.
I’ve been waiting a long time to re-purchase shares of Baxter International (NYSE:BAX) and always seem drawn to it as it is about to go ex-dividend. This week’s ex-dividend date arrives at a time when shares are approaching their yearly low point. I tend to like that combination particularly when occurring in a company that is otherwise not terribly volatile nor prone to surprises.
As with some other trades this week I might consider bypassing the weekly option and looking at an extended weekly option to try to offset some of the relatively higher transaction costs occurring in a holiday shortened week.
Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) is also ex-dividend this week and seems to have found stability after some tumultuous trading after its January 2015 earnings report. With some upcoming technology and telecom conferences over the next 2 weeks there may be some comments or observations to shake up that stability between now and its next earnings report. However, if open to that risk, shares do offer both an attractive option premium and dividend.
With shares currently situated closer to its yearly low than its high it is another position that I would consider selling an extended weekly option and seeking to also get some capital gains on shares by using an out of the money strike price.
Finally, retail hasn’t necessarily been a shining beacon of light and whatever suspicions may surround the GDP, there’s not too much question that retailers haven’t posted the kind of revenues that would support a consumer led expansion of the economy, although strangely shoes may be exception.
One of the more volatile of the shoe companies has been Deckers Outdoor (NYSE:DECK) and if the option market is any judge, it is again expected to be volatile as it rep
orts earnings this week.
The option market is implying a 10.5% price move in one direction or another this coming week as earnings are released and guidance provided.
Meanwhile, a 1% ROI could potentially be achieved from the sale of a put option if the shares don’t fall more than 15.4%. That’s quite a differential and may be enough to mitigate the risk in the shares of a company that are very prone to significant ups and downs.
As with Kors, there is no dividend to factor into any decision if faced with the need to either embrace or avoid assignment. In that event, I would likely try to roll the put options over to a forward week in an attempt to outlast any decline in share price and wait out price recovery, while still generating premium income.
That sounds good on paper and when it does work out that way, adding up all of those premiums on a piece of paper reminds you how beautiful simple numbers can still be.
Traditional Stocks: none
Momentum Stocks: Coach
Double Dip Dividend: Baxter International (5/28), Qualcomm (6/1)
Premiums Enhanced by Earnings: Deckers (5/28), GameStop (5/28 PM), Kors (5/27 AM)
Remember, these are just guidelines for the coming week. The above selections may become actionable, most often coupling a share purchase with call option sales or the sale of covered put contracts, in adjustment to and consideration of market movements. The overriding objective is to create a healthy income stream for the week with reduction of trading risk.
May 18 – 22, 2015