Option Trade of the Day: Flextronics Ltd. (FLEX)
We saw mixed results in the market yesterday with the Nasdaq moving higher, the Dow moving lower and the S&P was down ever so slightly. Of the ten main sectors, seven were lower on the day, but because technology was one of the ones higher, that allowed the Nasdaq to move higher. The industrial sector was the worst performer and that helped to drag the Dow down.
[hana-code-insert name=’adsense-article’ /]Like the market, my scans were mixed last night with a slight bearish slant.There were 41 bearish signals and 23 bullish signals.
Given the mixed results in the market and the mixed results in my scans, I have a different type of trade idea for you today.
The company is Flex Ltd. (Nasdaq: FLEX), and the circuit manufacturer is middle of the road in terms of its fundamentals.
In Investor’s Business Daily’s EPS rating it scores a 54 and on the SMR grade it scores a “C”.
We see on the chart a possibly bearishly skewed head and shoulders pattern with the neckline sloping downward, but the momentum is to the upside right now, thus the reason for a straddle trade today. The idea of a straddle is that the stock is going to make a big move in one direction or the other. You buy both a put and a call at the same strike price and look for a more modest gain than you would on a straight put or call purchase. In this case the stock is just below the $19 level and that is the strike we will work with in today’s trade idea.
Buy to open the April18 19 strike straddle on FLEX at $1.09 or better. These options expire on April 20. The April 19 strike calls are $0.53 on the asking price and the puts are at $0.56 on the asking price. Given the target price of the straddle, I would set a gain of 50% on this trade. This means the stock will need to move up to $20.64 or down to $17.34 to hit our target gain.
— Rick Pendergraft
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