If Your Stock can’t Beat Their Stock

International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) is on a tear this month hitting a new 52 week high today as Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) purchases Electronic Data Systems (EDS) in hopes of making up some ground on Big Blue.

New Florida & Country Music Stations on HD Radio

            If you haven’t heard about HD Radio, make sure to take a look at hdradio.com. For completely free high definition signals delivered to your HD Receiver in crystal clear quality this is the one source that outperforms all other types of music, stock, and news media. There’s no monthly cost for his quickly expanding form of radio signal. Stations continue to be added from Washington State to Florida and from All Grunge Rock to Country genres.

This deepwater equipment manufacturer has moved very aggressively in the past couple of trading days hitting new 52 week highs each of the last two days. You should wait for a pull back of up to 5% before considering this growth company but if you need some additional oil equipment exposure in your portfolio, this is a great stock and company to consider.

Sun Microsystems last night after the close reported a third quarter loss that stunned Wall Street analyst who had been looking for an 18 cent profit. The company reported losing 4 cents a share compared to making 8 cents a share a year earlier. A very good example of the need to be cautious with your positions at a companies earnings announcement.

On the long side today there is Sohu (SOHU). This stock shot up 14.51% today and there was a lot of Call option action in the May and June months.

Top 5 Industries and their 52 Week High Stocks: Taking a look at the Top 5 Industries in the past 10 days and stocks within those industries that are at or near their 52 week highs.

One of the best trades I have made in the past three weeks has been long-term Calls in two fertilizer producers and distributors, Mosaic (MOS) and Potash (POT).

On a mixed day in the market stocks like MGIC (MTG), Radian Group (RDN), MBIA (MBI), Ambac Financial (ABK) and PMI Group (PMI) rallied. These stocks were beaten down during the housing and financial crisis the past 8 months but could possibly be heading for a rebound.

There was a tremendous amount of Call volume today with Procter & Gamble (PG).

Today we saw quite a bit of Put volume for Herbalife Ltd. in both the month of April and the month of May. Strike prices of 40 and 45 were the active Put prices with 2066 April 40 Puts being traded and 3230 April 45 Puts trading hands.