THE WEEK AHEAD: HPQ, LOW, BBY, GME EARNINGS; XOP, EWZ (NON)EARNINGS
HPQ, LOW, BBY, and GME are all up for earnings announcements. Out of these, BBY and GME appear to be the best candidates for premium selling, given their implied volatility rank and background implied volatility metrics, although virtually every liquid underlying with an earnings announcement bears watching; implied volatility can pop at the last moment, making them ripe for a play.
BBY announces on 5/25 before market open, so look to put on a play on the 24th before session close.
Preliminary Setups:
June 2nd 51.5 short straddle; 4.18 at the mid with break evens wide of the expected move at 47.32/55.68.
June 2nd 44.5/51.5/51.5/58.5 iron fly: 3.69 at the mid with break evens at 47.31/54.69; 3.81 max loss/buying power effect.
June 2nd 47/56 20 delta short strangle: 1.17 at the mid; BE's at or wide of the 1 SD at 45.83/57.17.
June 2nd 46/48.5/54.5/57 30 delta iron condor: 1.03 at the mid; BE's wide of the expected move at 47.47/55.53; 1.47 max loss/buying power effect.
GME announces on 5/25 after market close, so look to put on a play on the 25th before session close.
Preliminary Setups:
June 2nd 24 short straddle: 2.21 at the mid with break evens wide of the expected move at 21.79/26.21.
June 2nd 21/24/24/27.5 iron fly: 1.88 at the mid with break evens wide of the expected move on the put side, slightly short of the expected on the call at 22.12/25.88; 1.62 max loss/buying power effect.
June 2nd 22/26.5 20 delta short strangle: .65 at the mid with break evens wide of the expected move at 21.35/27.15.
June 2nd 20/22.5/26/28.5 iron condor: .72 at the mid with break evens wide of the expected move at 21.78/26.72; 1.72 max loss/buying power effect.
Due to the credits received for the short strangle/iron condor, would probably short straddle or iron fly.
NON-EARNINGS
The two exchange-traded funds with the metrics I generally look for: XOP and EWZ. I already have a non directional, defined risk EWZ setup on (an iron condor), so could look to add. With XOP, I'm looking at directional stuff (laddered short puts, laddered short put verticals, Poor Man's, or a setup with no upside risk, the concern being that OPEC will extend output cuts, causing this to rip skyward).
