The company is expecting double-digit profit growth in its corn business and as a result increased its guidance in its 2013 Q1 earnings call held on January 8, 2013. The company's most significant quarters, Q2 and Q3, are in full-swing and approaching and we'll find out more about Q2 when the company reports results on April 3, 2013.

Monsanto is well positioned for growth over the next year and the next decade, as the company invests in technology for seed, plant and field. Also, Monsanto's stock price has been on a nice upward trajectory over the last year as shown below:

(click to enlarge)

With this setting, the company could report robust earnings next week and a corresponding increase in stock price, and as a result a long straddle stock option position is considered. The long straddle stock option position provides a profit if the underlying stock price moves significantly up or down in price. The drawback for the position, is the position results in a loss, and potentially a large loss, if the stock price does not move significantly, so this position should only be considered with "Vegas capital." The long straddle can be entered by purchasing a long put and call option with the same strike price and the same month of expiration.

Using PowerOptions, a long straddle was found for the company with April expiration as shown below:

The position results in a profit if the price of the stock increases to above $110.33 or if the price drops below $99.67. The details for entering the Monsanto long straddle position are shown below:

Monsanto Long Straddle Position:

• Buy 2013 April 105 Put at $2.55
• Buy 2013 April 105 Call at $2.78

A profit/loss graph for one contract of the Monsanto long straddle is shown below:

(click to enlarge)

As shown, for a significantly increasing or decreasing stock price, the position results in an ever increasing profit.

Look forward to your comments below!

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

Oracle (ORCL) reported in its Q2 2013 earnings call held on December 18, 2012 that its could-related business segment is doing very well with quarterly revenue of $230 million. Mark V. Hurd, President and Director, reported wins for the company's cloud products which included Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), Expedia (EXPE), Macy's (M), T. Rowe Price (TROW), United Continental Holdings (UAUA), U.S. Bancorp (USB), Whirlpool (WHR) and Xerox (XRX). Mr. Hurd further noted product wins for its Exalogic Elastic Cloud software with Chevron (CVX), Vodafone (VOD) and Wal-Mart (WMT).

For its software license and cloud related segment, Oracle reported broad-based strength and balance with double-digit growth in all of its regions. Year-over-year quarterly revenues for software licenses and cloud related products for the Americas were up 22%, Asia Pacific up 13% and Europe/Middle East up 12%. Lawrence J. Ellison, CEO, Co-Founder and Director, noted the company's Java business is booming with growth of over 34% for the quarter. Mr. Ellison further commented that the acquisition Sun Microsystems was the most strategic and profitable acquisition that Oracle had ever performed. On a negative note, Quarterly hardware revenues came in at $734 million which represents negative growth of -23%. Mr. Ellison further noted that the company is almost complete with downsizing in its hardware product segment and plans to start growth its hardware business in the near future.

Oracle reported total revenue for the quarter of $9.1 billion which represents growth of 5% year-over-year.

For the company's Engineered Systems product offering, Mr. Hurd noted product wins at China Mobile (CHL), Facebook (FB), Samsung and Time Warner Cable (TWC) and also indicated the company plans to double the Engineered Systems business. Mr. Hurd further noted product wins for its Business Intelligence product Exalytics with Activision (ATVI), City of Chicago, Deloitte & Touche and WellPoint (WLP).

Although Oracle's Price-to-Sales (P/S) ratio of 5 looks expensive, its Price-to-Earnings ratio of 17 looks fair considering the company's prospects for high growth. Oracle's stock price has shown fairly steady price appreciation over the last nine months as shown below:

(click to enlarge)

With Oracle set to release is third quarter results on Wednesday March 20, 2013 and with the company's prior excellent software/cloud-related performance, the company could report better than expected results. Due to this, a long straddle stock option position is considered for the company. A long straddle returns a profit if a stock price increases or decrease significantly. However, the position experiences a loss, and a potentially a large loss, if the stock price remains stagnant, therefore the long straddle should only be used with "Vegas" capital. The long straddle can be entered by purchasing a long put and a long call option with the same strike price and the same month of expiration.

Using PowerOptions, a couple of long straddle positions for April 2013 expiration were found as shown below:

Since a positive earnings surprise is expected for Oracle, the long straddle using the $36 strike price is selected, as it has the lower break-even price of $37.91. The details for entering the selected long straddle for Oracle are shown below:

Oracle Long Straddle Position:

• Buy ORCL 2013 Apr 36 Put at $0.74
• Buy ORCL 2013 Apr 36 Call at $1.17

A profit/loss graph for one contract of the Oracle long straddle position is shown below:

(click to enlarge)

For a stock price below $34.09 or above $37.91, the position is profitable and for a price between $34.09/$37.91 the position results in a loss.

Look forward to hearing your comments below!

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

New software license revenue was $2.3 billion which was flat year-over-year, cloud revenue was $238 million which was -1% year-over-year. The one bright spot -- software license update and product support had revenue of $4.3 billion which represented an increase of 8% year-over-year. The revenue for software license update and product support represented almost half of the Oracle's total revenue, while nice this is not good, because this segment is basically relying on past performance and is not a good indicator for future results.

Even with the poor results, Oracle had some major wins such as Travelocity, Walt Disney World (DIS), Kaiser Foundation, Office Depot (ODP), CGI Group (GIB), Southwest Airlines (LUV), Dow Chemical (DOW), Union Bank, Renault, National Instruments (NATI) and Lender Processing Services (LPS).

Mr. Ellison claimed the company's new SPARC T5 microprocessor is the world's fastest. Additionally, Mr. Ellison thinks the company will once again see good performance in Q1, after completing the transition to new products in the pipeline.

In a previous article (which I accidentally deleted), it was conjectured that Oracle would report good results and a long straddle was offered as a stock option strategy to consider. Just the opposite situation occurred, but the long straddle can generate a profit if a stock price moves significantly up or down and Oracle's stock price has taken a big haircut as shown below:

(click to enlarge)

The long straddle position posted in the previous article is now showing a positive profit of about 115%. Oracle's outlook still looks positive with its promising Cloud offering, so with the haircut, this could be a good time to enter a long position for the company. A position worth of consideration is the married put, as it provide for unlimited upside with limited downside. The position profits with an increase in stock price, but doesn't lose much if the stock price takes a hit. The married put position can be entered by purchasing a long put against a long position in the stock.

Using PowerOptions, a number of married put positions were found for Oracle for September option expiration as shown below:

The married put position using the 2013 September 32 strike price look attractive with a maximum potential loss of 5.8%. However, when considering expected dividend payments during the holding time, the maximum potential loss is reduced to 4.8%. The details for entering the Oracle married put position are shown below:

Oracle Married Put Position:

• Buy ORCL (existing or purchased)
• Buy 2013 Sep 32 put at $2.11

A profit/loss graph for one contract of the Oracle married put position is shown below:

(click to enlarge)

For an increasing stock price, the value of the married put also increases. For a stock price falling below the $32 strike price of the put option, the value of the married put position remains unchanged. And, if the price of the stock increases to above the $32 strike price of the put option, then income methods can be applied in order to receive income and reduce risk as taught by RadioActiveTrading.com.

Look forward to hearing your comments below!

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

First Solar has performed well considering the challenging nature of the solar industry. James A. Hughes, CEO and Chief Commercial Officer and Director, noted the industry has experienced an increasing number of production/capacity reductions as well as bankruptcies. However, Mr. Hughes indicated the company is seeing signs of stabilization in the industry. The travails of the renewable industry were further mentioned in a previous article related to 3M (MMM) as it was noted the company's renewable energy business segment has declined 12% in the company's Q4 2012.

First Solar is involved in solar-related projects on a global basis. Mr. Hughes discussed the company's first major project in the Middle East for which the company was selected by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority to construct a 13 Megawatt Photovoltaic (PV) power plant near Dubai. Additionally, the company is involved globally with respect to solar-related efforts in India, Indonesia and Thailand.

Mr. Hughes noted the company is expanding its Network Operations Center in Mesa Arizona, as this function enables the company to optimize its customer's solar energy production. The capability of the Network Operations Center enables minimization of costs and risks associated with solar generation and provide for seamless integration of PV power plants with the legacy electrical grid.

First Solar provides advanced thin film solar technology and claims the benefits of its technology outperforms conventional solar modules with equal power rating, provides proven energy yield advantage in hot climates, has yielded the world-record for a PV module of 14.4%, enables manufacturing costs under $0.75/watt and provides the smallest carbon footprint and fastest energy payback time of any PV system. While First Solar claims it is the world-record holder for efficiency, its best-producing manufacturing line has an average module efficiency of 13.2% -- not quite 14.4%, but not too far removed.

While First Solar's trailing Price-to-Sales ratio cannot be analyzed since the company did not make a profit over the last four quarters, the company's Price-to-Sales ratio of 1 puts the company in the value category. First Solar's stock price has been down over the last year, but has almost recovered to its prior 52-week price in the $35 range as shown below:

(click to enlarge)

With the negative energy surrounding the solar industry, the potential bad news related to Hurricane Sandy and First Solar's upcoming earnings call to be held on February 26, 2013, an investor might consider an options play for a large movement in First Solar's stock price such as the long straddle. The long straddle provides for a profit if a stock price makes a large movement upward or downward in price. On a negative note, the long straddle position can sustain a loss and even a large loss, if the price of the stock does not make a large upward/downward movement -- so this strategy is only for "Vegas" capital.

The long straddle can be entered by purchasing a long put option and a long call option with the same strike price and the same month of expiration. Using PowerOptions, a couple of long straddle positions were found for First Solar for expiration in March of 2013 as shown below:

Since we're expecting some bad news related to First Solar and a subsequent drop in stock price, the long straddle using the $34 strike price is more attractive than the alternative. The details for entering the First Solar long straddle are shown below:

First Solar Long Straddle Position:

• Buy FSLR 2013 Mar 34 call option at $2.36
• Buy FSLR 2103 Mar 34 put option at $2.61

A profit/loss graph for one contract of the Fist Solar long straddle is shown below:

(click to enlarge)

For a significantly increasing or decreasing stock price, the long straddle position is profitable, however, for a stagnant stock price, the position results in a loss - and maybe a large loss.

For current investors in First Solar wishing to protect a position in the company, a collar position is worthy of consideration. The collar strategy provides for potential income, even if the price of the stock remains stagnant while providing downside protection. So, if the price of the stock increases or remains stagnant the investor makes a profit, and if the price of the stock drops significantly, the investor is protected.

The collar position may be entered by selling a call option against a long stock position and using some of the proceeds from selling the call option to buy a protective put option. Using PowerOptions, a number of collar positions were found for First Solar for March option expiration as shown below:

(click to enlarge)

The collar position using the March 34/30 call/put option looks attractive as it has an unchanged potential return of 4.1%, so even if the stock price remains stagnant, the position will return 4.1%. And, if the price of the stock drops, even to zero, the maximum loss which can be sustained is 7.7%. However, if the price of the stock increases to above the $34 strike price of the call option, the position will return 4.6%. And, if the price of the stock increases to around $37, the collar position can potentially be rolled in order to realize additional potential profit. The details for entering the First Solar collar are shown below:

First Solar Collar Position:

• Buy FSLR (existing or purchased)
• Sell FSLR 2013 Mar 34 call at $2.31
• Buy FSLR 2013 Mar 30 put at $0.99

A profit/loss graph for one contract of the First Solar collar position is shown below:

(click to enlarge)

For a stock price above $32.49 at option expiration in March 2013, the position is profitable, and for a stock price below the $30 strike price of the put option, the maximum loss which can be sustained is 7.7%.

Look forward to hearing your comments below!

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

Customer's purchasing LED light bulbs at The Home Depot (HD) or Lowe's (LOW), not having Cirrus's technology, may be disappointed with the experience, as delay, flicker and other assorted misfires may be realized as shown by this video. However, customers purchasing LED light bulbs containing Cirrus's controller may be pleasantly surprised with the results, as the company's products enable LED light bulbs to operate in a similar manner as traditional incandescent light bulbs.

Cirrus Logic develops mixed-signal semiconductor device for the audio and energy related market segments. The company has been working with a Tier 1 light bulb company and has been shipping its LED controller in volume to the tune of 0.5 million units as noted in Cirrus'sQ4 2012 earnings call held on April 25, 2012.

Cirrus's stock price has gone ballistic over the last six months as shown below:

The stock price of Cirrus's largest customer, Apple, has also been ballistic over the last six months as shown below:

However, Apple's stock price has retreated over the last couple of months, but Cirrus's stock price has kept on trucking, which is probably a result of the Cirrus Logic's entry into the LED lighting business.

Cirrus's stock recently popped up as the highest returning protected covered call or collar as shown below:

(click to enlarge)

Following behind Cirrus for highest returning protected covered call were digital storage company Seagate Technology (STX), virtualization company VMware (VMW), content delivery company Akamai Technologies (AKAM) discussed here and rental company United Rentals (URI) discussed in this article.

A protected covered call may be entered by selling a call option against a purchased or existing stock and using some of the proceeds from selling the call option to purchase a protective put option.

The highest returning positions as shown above were found by selecting to search and sort by the highest returning positions. Stock prices for companies in an up trend were found by selecting to include companies with a 100-day moving average greater than the 200-day moving average. The 8% maximum loss parameter was selected, as a loss of 8% or less can typically be recovered fairly quickly using income generating investment methods.

The protected covered call for Cirrus exhibited above has a potential return of 3.6% (52% annualized) with a maximum potential loss of 7.5%, so even if the price of the stock drops to zero, the maximum loss which can be sustained is 7.5% (at expiration).

With Cirrus Logic's fortunes currently tied to Apple and an earnings release fast approaching, an investor in Cirrus might consider entering a protected covered call in order to position for a potential return, yet protect against a large drop in price. At the drop of a hat, Apple could drop Cirrus Logic as a supplier and Cirrus's stock price would most likely fall off of a cliff, and the protective put option of the protective covered call would protect a Cirrus investment against a large loss. Cirrus also has a number of competitors feverishly working to sell products in its market segments. Some of Cirrus's competitors include Analog Devices (ADI), Freescale Semiconductor Holdings (FSL), Integrated Device Technology (IDTI), Linear Technology (LLTC), Maxim Integrated Products (MXIM), Texas Instruments (TXN) and STMicroelectronics (STM).

The specific call to sell for the protected covered call listed in the table above is the 2012 Jul 28 at $1.60 and the put option to purchase is the 2012 Jul 25 at $0.60. A profit/loss graph for one contract of the Cirrus protected covered call is shown below:

For a stock price below the $25 strike price of the put option, the value of the protected covered call remains unchanged. If the price of the stock increases to around $35, the position can most likely be rolled in order to realize additional potential return.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

Charter Communications

Charter Communications had significant activity for the 2012 Jun 60 call option as shown below:

The only news related to the company on Friday, was the completion of Hargray Communications acquisition of Charter's Beaufort cable system.

Charter's stock price has been on a nice run over the last ten months and is currently just off of its previous support in the $60 range as shown below:

(click to enlarge)

Competitors so Charter Communications include Comcast (CMCSA), Cox Communications (private) and Time Warner Cable (private).

A married put might be a good investment to consider for Charter Communications, as the married put strategy provides unlimited upside potential and limited downside. The married put strategy may be entered by purchasing a put option against a long stock.

Using PowerOptions tools, a married put position was found for December with a maximum potential loss of 9%. The specific put option to purchase is the 2012 Dec 65 at $10.10. A profit/loss graph for one contract of the December Charter married put is shown below:

If the price of the stock increases above the $65 strike price of the put option, income methods can be applied to the position as described by RadioActiveTrading.com.

Energy Transfer Equity

A significant amount of option volume was observed for Energy Transfer Equity related to the 2012 Jun 35 call option and the 2012 Jun 40 call option as shown below:

(click to enlarge)

There wasn't any significant news regarding Energy Transfer Equity on Friday and the most recent news related to the company was the sale of its AmeriGas Partners propane business and its intent to acquire refiner Sunoco (SUN).

Energy Transfer Equity's stock price is in the doldrums lately and is slightly off of its previous support in the $34 range as shown below:

(click to enlarge)

Competitors to Entergy Transfer Equity include AmeriGas Partners (APU), DCP Midstream Partners (DPM) and Ferrellgas Partners (FGP).

Energy Transfer Equity's stock has a very nice dividend yield of 6.9%, so a protected covered call for September looks attractive, as the investment is positioned for realizing a potential return and also provides protection against a large drop in stock price. Assuming a $0.62 dividend payment in August, the protected covered call for September has a potential return of 4.4% and a maximum potential loss of 10.5%. The specific call option to sell is the 2012 Sep 35 at $2.25 and the put option to purchase is the 2012 Sep 30 at $1.05. A profit/loss (including the August dividend payment) graph for one contract of the protected covered call is shown below:

For a stock price below the $30 strike of the put option, the value of the protected covered call remains unchanged, even if the price of the stock goes to zero the maximum potential loss is 10.5%. If the price of the stock increases to around $40, the position can most likely be rolled in order to realize additional potential return.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.