AOL Money & Finance

Google (GOOG) widget announcement good for traders

More

GOOG logoGoogle Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is getting Wall Street's attention this morning after the company announced that it will begin distributing ads within "widgets" -- interactive capsules designed to bring more pizazz to Web pages -- in a move to cash in on the new internet phenomenon. This kind of an exciting announcement will often install a new floor for the stock price, at least until the preliminary returns are in. If you think that the company 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 GOOG.

After hitting a one-year high of $558.58 in July, the stock lost some ground, but has been climbing back toward the mid-500's over the past few weeks. GOOG opened this morning at $539.27. So far today the stock has hit a low of $538.86 and a high of $546.68. As of 10:55, GOOG is trading at $546.57, up $11.30 (2.1%). The chart for GOOG looks bearish but improving, while S&P gives the stock a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold rating.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider an October bull-put credit spread below the $470 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 will make a 4.2% return in just one month as long as GOOG is above $470 at October expiration. Google would have to fall by more than 14% before we would start to lose money.

GOOG hasn't been below $470 since May and has shown support around $515 recently. This trade could be risky if the company's earnings (due out 10/18) disappoint, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by the strong support the stock formed around $490 in August.

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 GOOG.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA+44.2910,291.26
NASDAQ+15.822,166.90
S&P 500+5.501,098.51

Last updated: November 12, 2009: 01:54 AM

BloggingStocks Exclusives

Hot Stocks

DailyFinance Headlines

Latest from BloggingBuyouts

TheFlyOnTheWall.com Headlines

    BioHealth Investor Headlines

    WalletPop Headlines

    My Portfolios

    Track your stocks here!

    Find out why more people track their portfolios on AOL Money & Finance then anywhere else.

    BloggingStocks Partners

    More from AOL Money & Finance

    WalletPop Headlines