Blue Horseshoe Stocks

Blue Horseshoe Stocks: Big News for KRFT & More

Kraft (KRFT) to Merge With Heinz

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In a move that will effectively create the third-biggest food company on the North American continent, it has been announced that Kraft Foods Group Inc. (KRFT) and H.J. Heinz Co. will merge. 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway, which bought Heinz for $23B and took it private back in 2013, will be orchestrating the deal.

As a result of this development, KRFT is gapping up monstrously in the premarket to the tune of more than 30% Generally when we see a stock soar on news like this, our first instinct is to continually scan for a dip-and-rip scenario once the session commences. When the rip does occur, we’re going to be looking to April $75-85 Calls for intraday options trading possibilities.

Kraft Foods, H.J. Heinz to Merge (Wed 8:18AM EDT)

Social Media Sector on Watch

Despite uncertainly over whether interest rates will be raised this year causing a general downturn in the markets, social media stocks appeared to be an exception yesterday.

We’re always looking for trends to exploit for options trading, and should Facebook, Inc. FB, Twitter, Inc. TWTR, and LinkedIn Corp. LNKD continue their hot hand this week, we could see some nice action in the following contracts:

FB Weekly $84-86 Calls
TWTR Weekly $50-52 Calls
LNKD Weekly $260-265 Calls

Vascular Biogenics, Inc. VBLT

VBLT is another gapper this morning that has surged in the premarket following the company Q4 earnings release. The stock briefly spiked to its 50DMA of 8.65 in early trading, and appears as if it will open in the 6.50’s.

We will look to see VBLT re-break the $7-mark once the session kicks off, as there is a large gap on the chart as we point out below, the filling of which would make for some highly notable gains. It’s definitely a stock we want to keep on our radar as we cruise through mid-week.

Extended Watchlist:
KFX, FXCM, ONCY, BLRX, MRNS, GRPN

Blue Horseshoe Stocks: CYBR, MCP, MEIP & More

CyberArk Software, Ltd. CYBR

Our first experiences with CYBR were good ones, when we successfully called a couple of potentially lucrative options trades around the middle of last month. It was in our report from February 13ththat we targeted CYBR $50 and $55 Calls, and that day we saw moves in those contracts of 72% and 165% respectively.

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We flagged CYBR once again yesterday, which had previously been under several weeks of consolidation, yet was gapping up in the premarket. The stock did well in reversing its path, trading in a range from 50.79-55.03, and holding the majority of those gains into the close.

Our current options idea is going to be the 04/17 $50 Calls (Closed at 6.60 yesterday). Should CYBR reach its way back to the $60-level anytime in the next few weeks, the gains we see in those contracts will be quite substantial.

Molycorp, Inc. MCP

MCP appeared in yesterday’s extended watchlist and demonstrated a reversal of its own. We’re going to place MCP on more intensive watch as the week progresses, as it has the markings of a potential bottom play.

We’ve illustrated some of the key characteristics of the chart below, which appears to be gearing up for what could be a big swing. The stock ran well over a dollar at the beginning of last month, so the potential for rapid gains has certainly been demonstrated.

MEI Pharma, Inc. MEIP

We’ve also got an eye on MEIP after the stock was crushed down to a 52-week low yesterday, following the company’s announcement of the failure of its cancer drug in middle-stage testing.

A single-session depreciation on the order of 70% is the hallmark of one heck of a knee-jerk reaction, and the stock appears to be gapping up slightly this morning, so we’ll be on the lookout for a recovery in MEIP shares in coming days.

Extended Watchlist:
IMGN, ATOS ISR, HEB, GEVO, NEPT

Blue Horseshoe Stocks: Options Recap, Cyber-Security Watchlist & More

Recapping Friday’s Options Ideas

Nike, Inc. NKE – On Friday morning, NKE was in the midst of gapping up on the heels of its earnings call, and we came up with daytrading ideas for the $100-104 Weekly Calls. There turned out to be great opportunity in that range as NKE surged to a daily high of 103.79:

$100 Calls – Range:1.38-3.75 – Max Gain: 172%
$101 Calls – Range: .70-2.80 – Max Gain: 300%
$102 Calls – Range: .18-1.75 – Max Gain: 872%
$103 Calls – Range: .10-.85 – Max Gain: 750%

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Prothena Corp plc PRTA was the other options target we were monitoring on Friday for swing trades. Specifically, we were looking at the $40 and $45 Calls, and both sets of contracts made big initial moves, followed by pullbacks and additional swings later in the session.

The $35 Calls first shot out of the gate trading at a low of 5.32 and running as high as 9.50 for an initial pop of 78%, before tapering back to 2.40 then recovering to 3.92, for an added 63% move.

The $40’s would open with a 116% spike from 3.00-6.50, followed by a later swing from 2.45-2.90, an extra 18% swing.

Cyber-Security Watchlist

We want to re-radar a couple of cyber security firms that we’ve mentioned in the past, as they have both been on a bit of a downtrend, yet appear to be gapping up this morning.

CyberArk Software Ltd. CYBR & FireEye, Inc. FEYE are going to go back on our active watchlist as we kick off a new trading week. Once we’re able to confirm reversals for each of these plays, we can then begin to formulate options strategies accordingly. Stay tuned to our reports this week, and we’ll be sure to have some ideas to pass along.

Extended Watchlist:
IMGN, FRSH, MCP, CAPN, PAL, CANF, AMBS(On Bottom-Watch)

Blue Horseshoe Stocks: CNDO Recap & Much More

Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. ESPR

ESPR was an unstoppable juggernaut for us this week. On Tuesday, we floated the idea of tracking the ESPR 04/17 $90 Calls, and those contracts have gone on a wild run since then.

As the stock pushed its way to new 52-week highs yesterday, finally topped those contracts out at 28.50, it marked an overall increase of 714% from the 3.50 low we observed on Tuesday; quite an impressive feat for a span of just three sessions.

Add in the multiplicity of opportunities in short-term weekly calls that we’ve witnessed (on the order of percentage gains in the thousands!) as the stock made this historical run, and we’ll have to mark ESPR down as one of our most successful alerts thus far in 2015.

Coronado BioSciences, Inc. CNDO

CNDO did quite well following our tag of it in yesterday morning’s extended watchlist, further solidifying the notion that biopharmas have been on a real hot streak this week.

We watched as CNDO ripped its way from a daily low of 3.62 to as high as 5.35, totaling an intraday run of 48% The move came on volume which smashed the 3-month average by a factor of more than 32X Congrats to any of our readers who lassoed this momentum-mover for some tidy gains yesterday!

Amicus Therapeutics, Inc. FOLD

FOLD also appear on yesterday’s watchlist before extending its own epic run with a modest yet notable increase of 13% on the day, trading a range from 11.63-13.20. Like the previously mentioned play, this stock has also been on a blue-sky breakout, setting new annual highs with every uptick.

Morning Gappers – Options Ideas

Nike, Inc. NKE shares surged as the company beat Wall St. estimates for profits on yesterday’s earnings call, and appears to be gapping up significantly in this morning’s premaket activity. We are going to be monitoring the $101-104 Weekly Calls for potential daytrading opportunities, and for a possible a swing trade into the weeks ahead, we’ll radar the 04/10 $105-110 Calls.

Prothena Corp plc PRTA is gapping up monstrously today to the tune of 40%, soaring on yesterday’s post-market revelation of positive Phase 1 results for its treatment for Parkinson’s disease. We will be placing $35 and 40 Calls on watch for daytrading potential, while tracking the 06/19 $45 Calls for a longer-term play.

Extended Watchlist:
VBLT, SPEX, VGGL, ICLD, RNN

Blue Horseshoe Stocks: ESPR Options, MVIS Recaps & More

Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. ESPR

ESPR found new highs once again yesterday for the second straight session after we initially tagged it for options trading potential on Tuesday.

In addition to monitoring Weekly In-the-money Calls, which yielded up the opportunity at gains ranging from 400-1400% on Tuesday, and continued their own runs yesterday, we also had specified a longer-term idea that continued to work extraordinarily well.

That idea, the 04/17 $90 Calls, traded from a low of 11.60 all the way up to 21.90 yesterday. It represented an excellent single-session intraday increase of 89%, and a whopping 525% jump over our observed low from Tuesday (3.50).

Big congratulations go out to any of our readers who reaped the benefits ESPR, which has easily emerged as our top target of the week! The stock is gapping up in the premarket this morning, so it appears as if we could see a further extension of those gains.

Microvision, Inc. MVIS

On Monday we tagged MVIS in a gap-up watchlist, and it has found its way into every one of our reports this week, setting new highs each day.

Yesterday the stock traded in a range from 3.42-4.23, a healthy intraday move of 24% From our observed low of 2.88 on Monday, that high marked a rise of 47% overall.

As you can see below, given the extremely over-bought look of the chart, now might be a good time to lock in any profits gained over the course of the week. This major move has been fueled by a PR out Monday in which the company announced orders totaling more than $14M it had received for components of its patented PicoP® display technology >> VIEW PR

Side Note:

Yesterday in advance of the FOMC Meeting, we cautioned readers to stay alert and watch for the effect that Janet Yellen’s commentary would have on the markets. To take advantage of this expected surge in either direction, we mentioned trading options calls on either the SPY, if the markets went up, or UVXY and/or VIX if they slid back. Either way it played out, we said, we wanted “to stay in-the-money with our strike prices.”

As it turned out, the Fed announcement caused a sharp rise in the markets, and as a result the SPY Calls were the ones to play. We saw substantial gains on in-the-money Calls as the SPY spiked to $211.27.

For example, the SPY $209.50 Calls traded in a range from .80-2.00, for an intraday move totaling 150% $210 Calls also spiked heavily from a low of .40 to as much as 1.59, a huge 297% jump.

Extended Watchlist:
FOLD, RAD, NQ, CNDO, SYN, SMLR