Friday was options expiration and it is time to update and review our results. The following table provides the summary statistics of all the trading ideas published since the inception of our services. The “TOE” trades are those that have been published here on this site and discussed with our subscribers. The “AAO” trades are those published at TheStreet.Com which we did for a period of time in 2016 and 2017. We continue to follow those trades for the benefit of our old subscribers. The average annual gain based on the capital placed at risk is a commendable 21%.
On Friday, one of our trades came to an end. That trade was a cash covered put on Assurant Inc, (AIZ) which expired worthless. We sold that put for a credit of $275 which is our profits on the trade (plus any interest that may have been earned on the cash balance). A summary of the trade is provided below.
| Begin & End Date | Ticker | Action | Quantity | Expiration | Strike | Type | Beginning Price | Ending Price | Profit |
| 1/13/17 | AIZ | Sell | 1 | 3/17/17 | 92.50 | Put | $ 2.75 | $ 0.00 | |
| 3/17/17 | Buy | 1 | Cash | $92.50 | $92.50 | ||||
| $89.75 | $92.50 | $275 |
We still like the company and we still believe it is cheap for all the reasons discussed in our original post. As a result, we suggest investors consider selling another cash covered put for $2.50. The stock is showing slow but upward momentum. This is just the kind of price action that benefits a buy-write of cash covered put. In addition, the forward-looking earnings are about 13 and company value as a multiple of cash flow (EV/EBITDA) is a modest 5.0. As a result, we do not see much downside risk in the share price of the foreseeable future.
| Type | Number | Exp. Date | Strike | Opening Price |
| Put | -1 | 6/16/17 | $95.00 | -$2.50 |
| Strike | 1 | $95.00 | ||
| Net Cash Required | $92.50 | |||
If you are already an owner of the stock, you can simply sell a call against your position as an equivalent strategy. You would have a similar break even and potential profit f you sold a $95 stake call. If you want to give that position a larger bullish tilt, simply sell a call with a higher strike, $100 or so. If you wanted a more bullish tilt on the cash covered put, you can select a higher strike put. In the final analysis, we like selling a $95.00 cash covered put for its return potential and room for error.
