Goldman Sachs-Bulls with Butterfly Wings are at it Again

Today’s tickers: GS, WU, DSW, MGM, WMT, BAC, EEM, WLP, HD & MMM GS - Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. – Goldman-optimists are once again employing bullish butterfly spreads on the stock in order to efficiently position themselves to profit from an eventual rebound in the investment banking firm’s share price. Goldman Sachs, one of the top tickers on our ‘most active by options volume’ market scanner, glowed green amid a sea of red today as its shares inched up 1.75% to $154.69 as of 3:20 pm (ET). The bullish butterfly spread initiated on GS this afternoon yields maximum benefits to the investor responsible for the transaction if shares of the underlying stock jump back up to $175.00 by October expiration. The parameters of this spread are a bit different than the larger-volume butterfly spread we reported on Monday afternoon, which prepared an investor to reap maximum profits should Goldman’s shares rally up to $160.00 by expiration day. Today’s transaction involved the purchase of 2,000 calls at the October $160 strike for an average premium of $12.80 apiece [wing 1], and the purchase of another 2,000 calls at the higher October $190 strike for $3.90 each [wing 2]. The body of the butterfly was established at the central October $175 strike where 4,000 calls were sold for $7.20 a-pop. Net premium paid for the spread amounts to $2.30 per contract. The net cost of the trade pales in comparison to maximum available profits of $12.70 per contract, which the trader pockets if Goldman’s shares surge 13% over the current price to settle at $175.00 at expiration. The butterfly-spreader starts to make money as long as shares of the underlying stock increase 4.9% to surpass the breakeven point to the upside at $162.30 ahead of October expiration. WU - Western Union Co. – Shares of the world’s largest money-transfer business surged 9.25% to an intraday high of $19.57 after the firm posted first-quarter earnings of $0.30 per share, which satisfied average analyst forecasts. A couple of analysts raised target share price estimates for Western Union following the positive earnings report. WU’s target price was bumped up to $23 from $19 at Susquehanna, in addition to the move up to $21 from $18 at D.A. Davidson today. Western Union’s current CEO, Christina Gold, is also reportedly handing over the reins to the current COO, Hikmet Ersek, on September 1, 2010. One Western Union options optimist was properly…