According to Sanford Bernstein, Nokia's (NOK) patent portfolio is worth €0.50 ($0.63) to €1.50 ($1.89) a share, while Navteq, a mapping company, is worth €0.6 ($0.76). On Nokia, Advfn shows that NOK has a Tangible Book Value / Share of $1.74, of which $0.65 is cash. According to a fellow Seeking Alpha writer here, the cash should last for about seven more quarters.
And so, on Nokia, I would consider a covered call options strategy:
A covered call is an options strategy whereby an investor holds a long position in an asset and writes (sells) call options on that same asset in an attempt to generate increased income from the asset. This is often employed when an investor has a short-term neutral view on the asset and for this reason hold the asset long and simultaneously have a short position via the option to generate income from the option premium. (Investopedia)
The NOK Jan. 2014 $2 Call has a premium of $1.06. NOK is trading for $2.35. The table below from OptionsXpress shows how returns vary by strike:
Click to enlarge
At the $2 strike, the breakeven point is $1.29. If you subtract the cash from TBV/S, you get $1.10/share and assuming the worst estimates from Sanford Bernstein you get a value of $1.40/share. These numbers should serve as a floor for NOK.
If you believe that Microsoft (MSFT) will acquire NOK, or simply that NOK is cheap, this strategy will provide 50+% upside, while significantly reducing your downside.
Source: OptionsXpress
Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, but may initiate a long position in NOK over the next 72 hours.
