STOCKS NEWS US-Goldman Sachs: Buy YPF calls ahead of election, earnings
10:16 AM ET, 10/24/2013 - Reuters
Real-time equity news [E U] U.S. stock market report 1010 ET 24Oct2013 Goldman Sachs recommends YPF calls instead of shares -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Derivative strategists at Goldman Sachs Group advised clients to buy call options on Argentine state oil firm YPF SA as a stock replacement in a report this week. Goldman strategists recommend buying November $22.50 YPF strike calls for a premium of 75 cents ahead of the country's mid-term election on Oct. 27 and YPF earnings due on Nov. 7.
They suggested replacing YPF shares with calls to maintain upside exposure and reduce risk. Call buyers risk losing the premium paid.
"We see good reason for the rise in implied volatility over the past month and see the potential for high volatility to continue," Goldman said. "YPF shares are sensitive to forward inflation expectations as well as Argentine government bond yields (as a risk proxy) and we see the potential for continued movement in both."
While shares have only moved an average of 3.4 percent, up or down, on the past eight earnings events, Goldman's energy analyst sees the potential for this earnings event to move the stock more than normal for shares as the company continues to update investors on long-term production targets following the Project agreement with Chevron earlier this year, the report said. YPF one-month implied volatility of 47 percent rose 13 points this month. Options on YPF imply a 11 percent swing for shares between now and Nov. 16, Goldman said.
Reuters Messaging:
doris.frankel.reuters.com@reuters.net
0920 ET 24Oct2013 Total option open interest increases by 5.34 mln contracts ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A total of 16.8 million contracts changed hands in the U.S.-listed options market on Wednesday, resulting in net open interest growth of 2.43 million calls and 2.91 million puts, according to Trade Alert.
Comcast Corp, Bank of America Corp, Ford Motor Co and BlackBerry Ltd attracted the greatest increase in option open positions, data from Trade Alert showed.
The top five new positions opened include 33,000 Sirius XM Radio Inc November $4 strike puts, 22,000 Comcast January 2014 $45 strike calls, 18,000 Ford December $19 strike calls, 16,000 Micron Technology Inc January 2014 $12 strike puts and 16,000 BlackBerry January $6 strike puts, Trade Alert said.
Reuters Messaging:
doris.frankel.reuters.com@reuters.net
0701 ET 24Oct2013-Economic and earnings diary for Oct. 24 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Economic data expected on Thursday includes September new home sales and weekly jobless claims.
S&P 500 companies scheduled to report include Amazon.com, Colgate-Palmolive, Ford Motor Co, 3M Co, Microsoft and Xerox, among others.
Reuters Messaging:
ryan.vlastelica@reuters.com@reuters.net