It took just under seven weeks for subscribers to bank a 100% profit
Subscribers to Schaeffer's monthly Option Advisor newsletter just scored a 100% profit with the NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) June 60 call. We're going to take a look back to see why we were initially bullish on NTAP, and how the options trade unfolded.
At the time of our initial call recommendation on Friday, March 23, we noted that after a negative earnings reaction in mid-February, shares of NTAP had rallied back, and hit a 17-year high, surpassing their 2011 high near the $60 level in the process. We could then see the tech name making a run to the $77 level, which was half its 2000 peak. This move seemed especially possible with NTAP sitting just atop the 40-day moving average, and already sporting a year-over-year advance of almost 52%.
Despite this technical setup, there was a ton of pessimism seen across Wall Street. Exactly half the brokerage firms that were covering NetApp still had "hold" or "sell" ratings in place -- despite a number of bull notes accumulated in 2018. It certainly seemed like a strong possibility that more upbeat analyst attention could come through, and drive the shares higher.
What's more, near-term options traders were more put-focused than normal, based on the Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) annual percentile rank of 93%. We knew that abnormally high SOIR levels have historically preceded bullish price action, as options speculators are typically on the wrong side of NTAP price action.
In our April newsletter -- released March 23 -- we recommended that subscribers buy the June 60 call. The stock quickly recovered from some early April weakness, bolstered by a well-received
analyst day and an additional slew of bullish analyst notes. Just under seven weeks from our entry date of March 23, NTAP made its way to a 17-year peak of $72.08, allowing us to close the trade and lock in a 100% profit.
