Commentary to resume Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Today’s tickers: LVS, MNTA, CHS & KLIC
LVS - Las Vegas Sands Corp. – Bullish action in Las Vegas Sands call options this morning indicates one strategist is betting shares in the casino resort operator will rally sharply in the first couple of months of 2012. Shares today rose 1.15% to $43.24 by 12:45 PM in New York, on the final trading session before the Christmas holiday. The investor positioning for big gains in the price of the underlying next year purchased a bull call spread, buying 2,000 calls at the Feb. 2012 $46 strike, and selling the same number of calls at the Feb. 2012 $50 strike, all for a net premium outlay of $1.05 per contract. Profits are available on the spread in the event that shares in LVS climb 8.8% to top the effective breakeven price of $47.05 at expiration. The bullish player may walk away with maximum potential profits of $2.95 per contract as long as the casino resort company’s shares jump 15.6% to settle above $50.00 at expiration in February. Las Vegas Sands Corp.’s shares last traded above $50.00 back on September 21, but haven’t closed above $50.00 since February 3, 2011. The call spread may be the trader’s limited-risk, limited-reward play on the stock ahead of its fourth-quarter earnings report on February 2, 2012. A positive surprise from the Company may result in substantial profits to the call-spreader should shares in LVS move up toward the $50.00 level.
MNTA - Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. – Shares in the biotechnology company moved up 7.0% overnight to $18.20 ahead of a 10:00 AM EST conference call held to discuss the recently announced collaboration with Baxter International, Inc. to develop and commercialize products called biosimilars. Baxter will reportedly pay Momenta Pharmaceuticals $33 million in cash…
