A $350 Investment on Apple Could Double in 2 Months

On January 27, 2016, at 4:30 EST, Apple (AAPL) will announce earnings for 2015. This has always been an exciting time for investors, and this year should not be any different from years past.

Today, I made a $350 bet on AAPL’s earnings. I feel confident that I will double my money in 2 months on this wager, even if the stock does not do much between now and then. I would like to share my thinking with you, and maybe you will like to do something similar yourself.

Terry

A $350 Investment on Apple Could Double in 2 Months

AAPL is trading today about $116, only $5 higher than it was a year ago at this time.
Over that year, earnings have grown about 30% and sales have increased 20%, and the stock has gone up less than 5%. The world’s most valuable company sells at only 11 times earnings while it is growing nearly double that percentage, and even the 11 number should be adjusted to a lower figure because of the large stash of cash they are sitting on.

By any fundamental valuation standards, AAPL is a screaming bargain. Yet it has been in this same position for years, often held down because of tepid guidance it invariably puts out while announcing sales and earnings which are considerably above the guidance they gave last time around. The company seems to enjoy setting a low expectation bar and then crushing it with stellar earnings.

While Black Friday was a disappointment for most retailers, AAPL apparently had its best day ever. One analyst reported “the iPhone and Apple Watch were the most popular, with the Watch likely the number seller online. IPads are emerging as the first computing device for kids, with the iPad Air 2 the hottest gift item for kids eight and older, the Mini for those younger.” It sounds like it might be a good Christmas selling season for the company.

Two things almost always occur in the week or weeks leading up to AAPL’s January earnings announcement. First, the stock usually moves up $5 or so in anticipation of a positive announcement. Second, option prices skyrocket because there is often a big move in the stock after the announcement, either up or down.

With these thoughts in mind, I bought calendar spreads on AAPL today with the stock about $116. I chose the 120 strike price because I think at some point in the next few weeks, the stock will edge up to that price. I bought Feb-16 120 calls and sold Dec-16 120 calls as a calendar spread, paying $347 plus $2.50 commission per spread (the commission rate paid by Terry’s Tips subscribers at thinkorswim).
Just before the Dec-16 calls expire, I will buy them back and sell a further-out weekly option at a strike price which will hopefully net me at least $100. I expect to repeat this once or twice in the subsequent weeks, hopefully reducing my initial $350 cost to about $150 when I can sell the calls I am most looking forward to.

Those calls will be the Jan5-16 calls which will expire on January 29, just after the earnings announcement. They are not yet available for sale, but will be offered in a couple of weeks. These are the calls which will be juiced up by the uncertainty of the coming announcement. Looking back to January 2015 when there were two weeks to the post-announcement, these are thebif prices for those calls:

At-the-money – $4.00
$1 away-from-the-money – $3.50
$1 away-from-the-money – $3.05
$1 away-from-the-money – $2.66
$1 away-from-the-money – $2.28

If I am successful in getting my cost down to $150 by that time, I should be able to sell Jan5-16 calls for more than my net investment, therefore guaranteeing me a profit no matter what the stock price does after the announcement. Of course, the closer to $120 it is, the more profitable it will be for me when I close out the Feb-16 – Jan5-16 spread on Friday, January 29, 2016.

As with most option investments, this obviously will take a little work to carry out. But I sort of like that kind of work when it might result in my doubling my money in a two-month time period. It seems like a low-risk, high potential gain to me, and I look forward to having a little fun with it.

Of course, you should only make option investments with money you can truly afford to lose. Profits are not guaranteed, no matter how promising they might appear when you first set up your positions.