Tax Reform in This Election Year: It's Not Likely
Which Credit Card Rewards Does the IRS Care About?
Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: EK) stock is falling this morning after the company announced a fourth-quarter profit of $215 million, or 71 cents per share. Excluding one-time items, the company's profit came to 41 cents a share, missing analysts' estimates of 52 cents a share. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on EK.
After hitting a one-year high of $30.20 in June, the stock hit a one-year low of $16.66 last week. This morning, EK opened at $20.54. So far today the stock has hit a low of $19.85 and a high of $20.91. As of 11:05, EK is trading at $19.88, down $0.57 (-2.8%). The chart for EK looks bearish but improving slightly, while S&P gives the stock a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold rating.
For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a March bear-call credit spread above the $22.50 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of call 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 an 8.7% return in 2 months as long as EK is below 22.50 at March expiration. Kodak would have to rise by more than 15% before we would start to lose money.
EK hasn't been above $22.50 by more than a few cents since November and has shown resistance around $22.20 recently. This trade could be risky if the economy turns itself around soon, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by resistance EK might find around its 50-day moving average, which is currently at $21 and falling.
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 EK.
Goldman Earnings Sink After Buffett Dividend
Johnson & Johnson's Income Falls 23%
Burberry Shares Leap on Sales Update
