Blue Horseshoe Stocks

Blue Horseshoe Stocks: Options Bonanza

Post-Earnings Options Success

Yesterday morning, a focus in our premarket report on Caterpillar and McDonald’s options proved to be a big success. Both companies exceeded expectations on their delivered earnings reports, and early activity suggested that opportunity was in the air.

We signaled multiple contracts for each of them, and no matter which chain and strike price was chosen, respectable intraday profits were there for the taking. The specific ideas we highlighted were the CAT Weekly $111-114 Calls, and the MCD Weekly $152.50 &155 Calls, and their subsequent moves were as follows:

Caterpillar, Inc. CAT
$111 Calls – Range: 2.00-3.88 – Max Gain: 94%
$112 Calls – Range: 1.36-2.88 – Max Gain: 112%
$113 Calls – Range: .85-2.15 – Max Gain: 153%
$114 Calls – Range: .58-1.44 – Max Gain: 148%

McDonald’s Corp. MCD
$152.50 Calls – Range: 4.35-7.50 – Max Gain: 72%
$155 Calls – Range: 2.15-5.00 – Max Gain: 133%

We’re seeing marginal premarket pullbacks from each stock this morning, but will continue to keep an eye on these play as we head into week’s end.
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Added Options Notes: Speaking of the end of the week, we’ve got an onslaught of big name earnings releases coming tomorrow and Friday, so expect the options intensity to ramp up quickly. We;ve got some fresh ideas today as well:

We also want to begin tracking a set of contracts in Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. CMG. We’ve been watching the stock get hammered down for the better part of the last two months, and yesterday it gave the reversal signal we’ve been looking for.Others have caught on as well, with the stock surging in premarket trading this morning. We’re going to be watching the CMG 8/11 $360-370 Calls.

Additionally, we’re also noticing a cherry of a chart setup on The Hershey Co. HSY, which, when paired with a big time beat on their own Q2 earnings, should make for a decent rebound. We’ll be staying on top of the HSY 08/18 $110 & 111 Calls.

AK Steel Holding Corp. AKS

We’ll also continue to keep an eye on AKS, which we tagged in yesterday’s report. The stock did rise, if only slightly (6.35-6.88), so we’ll want to track it for a more sustained run. It’s already trading above its 20 and 50-day moving averages- next we’d like to see it make a run at the 200DMA at 7.44.

Extended Watchlist:
PETX, IFON, OCUL, HMNY

Blue Horseshoe Stocks: ACRX Recap & More

AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ACRX

We want to circle back around to ACRX this morning to give an update on its recent performance following our most recent tag of the stock on Monday of last week. We observed ACRX shares changing hands for as little as 2.80 that day, and the stock has been on a pretty nice run since then.

ACRX logged a solid session yesterday which allowed it to reach a new high of 3.65, marking an increase of 30% in a span of one week. More importantly, the stock closed at its new high, on heightened volume and is gapping up this morning, so we’ll definitely want to be on the lookout for further activity on this play, which is now trading at its highest PPS since October.

Post-Earnings Options Ideas

We usually have pretty good fortune when using the heightened activity that generally follows an earnings beat to find solid short term options ideas.

Today, Caterpillar and McDonald’s are the two big names making waves in the premarket, so we’ve formulated a range of interesting contracts in each chain to track as we head into midweek.

For Caterpillar, we’ll be looking at the CAT Weekly $111-114 Calls, and for McDonald’s, the MCD Weekly $152.50-155 Calls for potential quick-strike trades.

AK Steel Holding Corp. AKS

We want to put AKS on a longer-term watch after the company’s own solid beat on expectations for its Q2 earnings, as well as a recent upgrade from ‘Neutral’ to ‘Buy’ by Longbow Finance.

The potential for big tariffs on international steel being imposed in coming weeks is also present, and has been adding fuel to the furnace, so to speak, for steel stocks. A confirmation of those tariffs would certainly provide a boost that could send AKS higher.

Extended Watchlist:
GNCA, BKS, GEVO, TNTR, TEUM, DCIX,

Blue Horseshoe Stocks: Options Ideas & More

Harley Davidson, Inc. HOG – Options

We were passively observing HOG last week as the stock was coming off its newly registered annual low (46.00), and we want to kick off this trading week by entering a potential options idea into the log. The stock is is extreme oversold territory, and we feel it’s just a matter of time before a more convincing rebound occurs.

That’s why we want to wait in the wings and observe the HOG 09/01 $49-51 Calls, which could stand to make some very nice moves if the stock can regain some of its recently lost ground over the course of the next few weeks.

Pandora Media, Inc. P – Options

Without a heck of a lot happening on the stocks front, being the dog days of summer, we see better chances for good opportunities with options at the moment. Pandora is another idea we want to talk about this morning,

It has been doing quite well over the past several weeks, since touching a low of 6.76 midway through last month. It approached the ten dollar mark last week before peeling back slightly, but this morning in the premarket, we’re seeing trades in the $10-range so we want to be ready with an options idea on the chance that a more significant breakout could occur. We’ll be tracking the P Weekly $9.50-11 Calls.

Extended Watchlist:
AZFL, CHOB, GNCA, NVAX, GLBS, RNVA

Blue Horseshoe Stocks: Updates, Bottom-Plays & More

Aeterna Zentaris, Inc. AEZS

We flagged AEZS on Wednesday’s morning, and saw rip its way to nearly a 90% gain. Then yesterday morning, we took note of the heavy volume and kept the stock on our radar.

It didn’t quite match the degree of the previous session’s move, but still followed it up with a solid performance, running from 2.55 to 3.29 on the day. That’s an intraday spike of 29% and a two-day upswing of 122% over our observed low of 1.48, while volume was massive once again. We’ll be looking for AEZS to possibly continue its multi-day run, and would want to see maintain support at or above Wednesday’s closing price of 2.34 on any pullbacks, in order to remain interested.

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd. IMUC

We want to radar IMUC as a bottom-watch play this morning. We noticed the stock had fallen to a new annual low yesterday, following the pricing of a public offering earlier this week, that is expected to be executed today.

We’re always on the lookout for battered stocks that could become rebound play candidates, and we’re always looking for charts with gaps to the upside and IMUC currently checks both of those boxes.

Extended Watchlist:
PPHM, OTTV, TVIA, OPGN, TXMD, FTR, MBRX, PLUG

Blue Horseshoe Stocks: AEZS Recap & More

Aeterna Zentaris, Inc. AEZS

It had been quite some time since the last time we mentioned AEZS in one of our reports, but were prompted to do so yesterday, after noticing some unusual premarket activity on our routine morning scan.

It’s certainly a good thing that we did, because the stock became our number one play of the day with an outstanding performance. It also happened to be the NASDAQ’s top gainer of the day. From an early low of 1.48 the stock shot up to a high of 2.80 shortly after 1:30, marking a single-session rip of 89%

The big move came on volume exceeding the monthly average by roughly 40 times, and the stock managed to hold well over half of its gains into the close, so we’ll be sure to leave AEZS on our radar as we head into the end of the week.

Marijuana Company of America, Inc. MCOA

Another point of focus for us yesterday was MCOA, which we signaled the previous morning, and subsequently witnessed a 38% (.02685-.037) upswing. We were mentioning that, along with the fact that an interesting PR had hit newswires which we felt could set the table for further gains, and we were correct in our assumption.

Perhaps also riding the wave of invigoration that has flowed back into the cannabis space as a whole over the past few sessions, MCOA continued its ascent, trading in a range from .0361-.0467 on the day. That was good for an intraday move of 29% and extended our two-session observed range on the stock to a respectable 74%

Sears Holdings Corp. SHLD – Options Idea

We’ve had some good fortune in the past with SHLD, and more specifically, its options chain. This morning, we’re spotting another possible opportunity on that front. The company will now be selling Kenmore appliances via Amazon.com, and as a result, the stock is gapping up over ten percent in premarket trading this morning.

To take advantage of the commotion, we’ll have our eye on the SHLD Weekly $9-10 Calls.

Extended Watchlist:
TEUM, ANY, AVEO, DFFN, HPJ, CAMT, BVXV