PowerOptions WeBlog

Google’s (GOOG) announcement of its acquiring YouTube for $1.65 billion in a stock-for-stock transaction may be a good strategic move in the long term, but for the short term the Google/YouTube deal may not be so hot for Google’s stock price.
Google is paying $1.65 billion for a company that is not profitable. Based on Google’s […]

With North Korea’s claim to have detonated a nuclear weapon, the list of nuclear capable countries expands. Japan is probably the biggest loser with North Korea’s new nuclear capability, as Japan is within range of a North Korean nuclear missile.
It is believed Iran is also developing nuclear capability that would cause more political instability in […]

The price of oil and the price of gasoline have decreased significantly in the last few months. The price of oil and gas at the pump are somewhat cyclical as the price tends to rise in the summer months with more vacation driving, etc. (higher demand) and falls in the winter months with less driving […]

In a previous article, “Stocks - Options & Trading Probability“, we discussed probability and stock options. PowerOptions‘ stock options search tool SmartSearchXL and stock options back testing tool SmartHistoryXL both display probability estimates for stock options positions and provide the capability to search based on probability criteria.
We were curious to know how well our […]

Wal-Mart’s stock (WMT) has been stagnant for the last several years. A large part of Wal-Mart’s problem stems from the company having saturated the rural and suburban U.S. with stores and having a need to find other avenues for revenue growth.
This pretty much leaves Wal-Mart with urban and foreign alternatives for store expansion. Wal-Mart has […]

With Jim Cramer’s company, TheStreet.com (TSCM), now available for options trading, conservative investors with a high regard for Jim Cramer and his management skills can conservatively invest in his company through covered call investing.
Using PowerOptions SmartSearchXL stock options search engine we searched for covered call stock options positions on October 3, 2006. The results […]

With Microsoft’s (MSFT) announcement of Zune, its entry into the digital media player market, we are once again having a showdown similar to the PC/Mac showdown of the 80s and 90s.
Apple’s (AAPL) iPod has an amazing +75% market share in the digital media player market segment and it’s iTunes product has an even more amazing […]

In recent months the price of natural gas has plummeted and because of this price drop hedge fund Amaranth Advisors lost its investors over $6 Billion. The natural gas industry as a whole could be set up for a reversal.
The natural gas industry’s stocks have experienced nice returns over the last few years with increases […]

Options for TheStreet.com (TSCM), founded by Jim Cramer, are now available for trading. For investors who really like Jim Cramer, they can REALLY put their money where his mouth is. Using PowerOptions stock options search engine SmartSearchXL, we searched for bull put spreads on October 2, 2006.
The results of the search are shown below:

SmartSearchXL bull […]

In a previous article, “Bears are After the Homebuilders“, we analyzed the real estate market and in particular the homebuilders. In this article, we will analyze REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts). A REIT is a company that owns and operates real estate properties generating income. For a company to be considered a REIT by the […]