Trades Closed (March)

The numbers are in. I corrected CF and MNTA below.

IMAX - This was bought on an acquisition rumor when it spiked above $32. I could have sold it hours later for a 15% gain, but nooooo. It fell back to a lower trading range. I think I was lucky to recover 30% of my investment. Lesson learned, maybe. -70.0% [corrected - shares sold]

NAV - The was a Schaeffer recommended "put sell" that expired worthless, so pure profit here. +++

RBCN - I initially bought calls and later converted it to a bull call spread. It took a bit for this one to come in, but it's been a monster. It's still a prime candidate with sales and earnings growth, and rising estimates. +219%

TTMI - Another bull call spread conversion like RBCN, and also appears in my top growth screen with rising estimates. +82.9%

For the RBCN and TTMI trades, I bought the calls about 7 weeks out and sold higher calls 3 weeks out. In both cases, I bought way-ITM calls, and sold the second least ITM call.

In the case of TTMI ($15.91, was at $18+), selling more intrinsic value (via the $15 strike) took 72% of the money off of the table. When the stock dropped recently, that extra buffer kept me from taking a loss had I sold the $17.50 call.

For RBCN, the two calls would have taken 8 (estimated) and 37% of the money off of the table by selling the higher and lower call respectively. The higher call expired ITM and would have netted more/share ($6.40 vs. $5.05) but had a lower return in percent. The call itself would have netted $8/share with a percent return on par with the lower call. [calculation exclude commissions and the price of the higher call was estimated]

I just wanted to illustrate the trade-offs in selling the more ITM call. Taking money off of the table is a good thing when the market is dicey or you have other places to re-deploy the capital. You percentage return will typically be higher, and your risk and break-even point will always be lower (critical in the TTMI trade). Your net may be lower (*), but so will your antacid and ulcer medication bills.

* for that trade, not counting gains from re-deployed capital.