Jon,

Thanks for reporting the CIEN options. I've been mulling that myself, and almost pulled the trigger the other day. God knows why CIEN is doing better with the virus than without. the only news I've seen is an analyst recommending it as a defensive 'survivor' of the pandemic, as their balance sheet is very strong.  One more 'up' day and I may have to do the CIEN options.

I closed out the options a few minutes ago for $0.15. Will look for another opportunity.

Jon,

Kudos - pretty perfectly played!  I'm hoping CIEN might revisit 46+ before it's too late and earnings hit in early ....June, I believe. I'd like to make that play at that price or so.

Interesting NYT article about what's not working/lurking as a job destroyer:  nytimes.com/20...s.html

Jon,

Kudos - pretty perfectly played!  I'm hoping CIEN might revisit 46+ before it's too late and earnings hit in early ....June, I believe. I'd like to make that play at that price or so.

Interesting NYT article about what's not working/lurking as a job destroyer:  nytimes.com/20...s.html

Well there we go. CIEN is flying. Sold calls again May 15, 49 strike for $1.31.  Que sera sera

It's the gift that keeps on giving for you.

Jon,

I cannot freaking believe your timing. The day it was flying, I was seriously mulling calls when the market session closed, and hoping the next day I could squeeze a bit more out of it, since it closed near the highs. Of course, having gained 5% on the day  you wrote calls, it caved 5% the next day. If you sold your soul to the devil in some Faustian bargain to sell calls at the high, at least you're getting a good price for it.

well, I got greedy past few days. Thought about covering late last week, but thought I could squeeze a few hundred more out of it and did not. Might sell calls for another 1/3 at this price though. and take my chances. I believe in CIEN long term but some of my shares are still from the 20's.

I did just sell some more calls for CIEN: May 29 50's for 1.74. Far out, but I like the price and again I am ok if they get called, will look to cover if stock drops. At least the CIEN volatility makes it interesting!

Jon,

I didn't get to see the market until after the close. What the hell happened to propel CIEN to new highs? I'll try to do some searching around, but my idiot brokeratge

has no news at all.   Intel has indeed lost some market share in computer CPUs to AMD, although INTC's results suggest that either the damage isn't that terrible,

since the pie in itself in that sector is not growing. INTC has had terrible delays in shrinkage of their dies to 10nm. I believe they're close or at solving that, and as

die shrink go forward, the performance advantage of AMD's CPUs may become more negligable. And, as noted, INTC has become quite successful in shifting revenues

to the datacenter/cloud space.

I am amazed and clueless about what propelled CIEN today. And 'sellers regret' at the few lots I sold just the other day. Any clue? TIA.

Not sure. It might have just been due to reaching 52 week highs? Maybe some computer buying? 

Jon,

Or maybe your uncanny price/timing luck? I'm trying to figure out how your option trades on CIEN can trigger mine :-) Now, around $50 is where I'd like to sell calls. Too bad CIEN is underperforming today's rocket market. But it's always been a maverick.  June 4th is the *estimated* date of earnings, but no offical confirmation  of that yet. 

I just bought back the May 15 49's for 24 cents. Looking at doing same with my May 29 50's if price stays low. Will look to possibly repeat if option arises (pun intended)

Jon,

Dammit - I thought we were going to 'link accounts' so mine would auto-fire when your magical luck on options timing kicked in. (Actually, I'm quite grateful for you posting your trades.

I thought yesterday when it was in the $45's to buy back the few shares I optioned out at stk $48 for May 22nd. I've been hoping that we might see $49 again, at which I'd be delighted to sell $50 calls for either May 29th or.........do a strike after earnings. I once got slightly burned with that strategy, as CIEN was rising in the week before earnings, so the shares got called away and  weren't available for the 'premium bump' CIEN always shows with earnings.

And on the other hand.....in this market, the strong just keep getting stronger. The concentration of wealth in stocks least affected by the virus, and with strong balance sheets (for which CIEN may qualify) just keep rising, while the 'losers' (banks, travel, entertainment, etc.) certainly have the short end of the stick. Long term, I start wondering whether CIEN might be a long term hold with a substantial bet placed on it. 

Since we haven't linked accounts yet, thought I'd mention I just resold the calls I bought back the other day. Jun 5 51's for $1.59.

Jon, 

We musta kinda linked accts, as I sold a small number of calls on CIEN today - exp june 12, stk $51.50, premium $2.09. (I think I just learned a lesson.The bid-ask spread was high, like $1.80 - $2.25 or something like that. I picked a penny or to above the mid-point, as I almost never get a fill when I don't bid the mid-point, and they were immediately taken - now they're $1.91 - $2.44 with a midpoint of ... $2.18 I think - and the price o f the stock is a little lower than when I traded it. Lesson learned - with a large spread, the mid-point doesn't have anywhere near the specific meaning when the bid-ask is much closer.) (Worse lesson learned, I didn't buy back my May 22nd stk $48 yesterday in the mid-.40 cents range - they're now, of course, way too expensive to buy back. Perhaps the crazy beta of CIEN will save me later. OTOH, all the 'hot stocks' are those with good balance sheets and good (relatively) prospects - CIEN, NVDA, and so on.

Jon,

Apparently the market is telling us we sold CIEN calls too soon. Apparently, the news today is that the virus could just...disappear, it'd be like a miracle, it could just disappear. 

Or, maybe that's our shares that will just 'disappear' at expy. 

But the wheels 'still in spin' - news and stock beta is entirely unpreditable - not to mention earnings, and outlook. IIRC, I thought some time ago CIEN warned that Corona would

have an impact on their earnings. But is it is true that their exposure to China is small, and with videoconferencing booming, their American market sales might accelerate.

Which I probably shouldn't even comment on, because who knows what happens next. I did think that selling June 12 stk $51.50's on Friday was a reasonably safe bet to pocket

the $2.09 premium.

Well, as I always say, if they get called away I made a profit! I still have 1500 shares... and would I be crazy if I sold Jun 5 53's for $2+? How far can this run in this Macro environment? I am long term bullish, but this is trading like fire. Or it is too far ahead of itself. Today's volume is only half normal volume. It is just weird, cannot explain it.

On the other hand if it does $2.60 this year and $3.10 next year with the 5G growth potential, it is actually fairly priced at 51 with upside? 2021 P/E of 17 is sort of low actually. Just signed agreements with two of Europe's biggest telecoms. Hmmm.  Ok, I've convinced myself to hold my remaining shares.  lol  ;)

Jon - Today's action with CIEN was somewhat tempting, given that it closed not far from $48. I'm hoping that if the market zooms like this on the annoucement that 3.5 more people filed for unemployment, and the market didn't sell off into the close, maybe a Monday with no news will skyrocket it. I've also been mulling this: If you want to get the best bang out of calls at $49 or $50, perhaps it's best to sell call for a a strike after earnings. The obvious danger in selling the May 29 calls is that, they might reach strike, but you won't get a whole lot for them. Offhand, I remember the June 12 of 19th stk $50 calls had a midline (mid-between bid and ask, ot always reliable to get it at that price, I know) of about $2.25 for the premium. $52.25 if it finishes ITM is pretty good. I'm hoping Monday might even be better. Of course, with the bifurcation of the market, if CIEN does very well and gives at least steady guidance, the appreciation might be considerable. But....analysts have been downgrading it to neutral based on price (altho there are many who have maintained a buy), and I *think* CIEN may have come out with a statement weeks ago saying that Covid would have a meaningful impact. But I may be wrong, given that so many companies have said that.

I don't disagree about late May or June possibilities, but also know the market is weird. If I can spend $400 to make net $1600, I'm not waiting to see if I could get the full $2k.  This has provided me opportunities to sell additional rounds of calls at times and I think has earned me more money with CIEN than otherwise.  I still have my May 29 50's. Did not buy them back (yet?). I will resell calls for the other lot i just covered if the stock goes up on Monday.