Advanced Micro Devices Signals More Upside After Breaking to a Record High

This week we are looking at another of the Investor’s Business Daily (IBD) Top 50 List companies.  We use this list in one of our options portfolios to spot outperforming stocks and place option spreads that take advantage of the momentum.

AMD has been in a steady uptrend since the start of November and looks set to continue the trend. Check out what the following two articles have to say about the stock – Buying Stocks for Christmas? Put These Tech Stocks Under the Tree and Jim Cramer: Focus on Single Semiconductor Names, Stay Away from ETF Baskets.

Technicals

From a technical standpoint, AMD has confirmed that it has resumed the uptrend by breaking above the September peak. The stock now shows strong support near the September high, around $94. Further support is found slightly below it from a confluence created by the 20-Day moving average and the lower line of a rising trend channel. In addition to the technical chart, AMD has been steadily outperforming the semiconductor index (SOX) and Intel (INTC) for four years.

AMD Chart December 2020

If you agree there’s further upside ahead for AMD, consider this trade which relies on the stock remaining above $96 through the expiration in five weeks.

Buy To Open AMD 22JAN21 93 Puts (AMD210122P93)
Sell To Open AMD 22JAN21 96 Puts (AMD210122P96) for a credit of $1.10 (selling a vertical)

This credit is $0.02 less than the mid-point of the option spread when AMD was trading near $96.  Unless the stock rallies quickly from here, you should be able to get close to this amount.

Your commission on this trade will be only $1.30 per spread.  Each spread would then yield $108.70. This reduces your buying power by $300 and makes your investment $191.30 ($300 – $108.70).  If AMD closes at any price above $96 on January 22, both options will expire worthless, and your return on the spread would be 57% ($108.70 / $191.30), or 650% annualized.

Changes to Investor’s Business Daily (IBD) Top 50 This Week:

IBD Underlying Updates December 19, 2020

We have found that the Investor’s Business Daily Top 50 List has been a reliable source of stocks that are likely to move higher in the short run.  Recent additions to the list might be particularly good choices for this strategy, and deletions might be good indicators for exiting a position that you might already have on that stock.

As with all investments, you should only make option trades with money that you can truly afford to lose.

Happy trading,

Terry