James Brumley

Wealth Management on Ulitzer New option traders often struggle with unpredictable pricing - the mathematical value of an option may or may not be the actual or perceived value at any given time. The reason for the disparity? The 'Greeks'. Fortunately, understanding how the Greeks can impact option pricing is pretty simple to learn. There are four primary option Greeks all option traders should become familiar with. Two of them generally need to be considered before choosing an option to trade. The other two may not be of great value for newcomers in terms of selecting an option. However, they should be understood all the same, even if only to be aware of potential influences on that option's price. Delta Delta is a measure of responsiveness of an option's price relative to the change in price of the underlying security. For instance, if IBM calls have a delta of... (more)

Technology Stocks Are Turning The Corner

Though their performance could only be described as mediocre (at best) since the market’s recovery in March, consumer and corporate spending on technology may finally be strong enough to spur tech stocks higher again. Not As Bad As Thought: Not entirely surprisingly, revenues and earnings were down last quarter compared to the same quarter a year earlier for many technology stocks, such as Dell (DELL) and Texas Instruments (TXN). The struggling economy was the culprit of course. Yet, the tech group as a whole still topped their expected earnings figures. In other words, the market... (more)

2010’s Projected Earnings…. Seriously?

Don’t look now, but the market’s overvalued. That’s probably not earth-shattering to anyone - what else would an investor expect here in the shadow of the worst recession in decades? On the other hand, one would expect those investors to learn some important lessons about valuations. Perhaps it’s simply a lack of information that’s allowing euphoria to swell up. So, maybe a closer look at valuations will help curb the undeserved enthusiasm… and inject a dose of reality into our collective mindsets. In other words, let’s compare some current P/E ratios to historical P/E ratios. S... (more)

Trade-Worthy: AnnTaylor Stores Corp. (NYSE: ANN)

About the only thing AnnTaylor Stores Corp. (NYSE: ANN) shares have going for them at this point is how anybody who’s thinking about shorting the stock, or buying put options on it, has a good chance at making some money. Between the Motley Fool pointing out how unpopular ANN is on their CAPS site, the downgrade from Jeffries & Co., and the likely loss on weaker sales in Q4, it’s no wonder the stock is struggling. The technical nail in the coffin for AnnTaylor Stores Corp. could be a move under $12.60 or so, where ANN found support in November. That support is being tested again ... (more)

Small Cap Insurance Brokers Got It Goin’ On

They may not be the outright leaders for any timeframe, but they’re finishing in the top 20 for all timeframes. Like NASCAR, that sort of consistent strength is how you win the series, even without winning the race. Yeah, well, that’s precisely what I see the small cap insurance brokers doing right now…. doling out big rewards to investors not in spurts, but with persistent and reliable progress. Ironically, at that rate, they’ll actually be the market’s biggest winners a year from now. I know, I know…. if you’re like most investors, you probably couldn’t name one insurance brok... (more)