Category: Stock Option Investment Advice

Apple (AAPL) and News Corp. (NWS) have signed an agreement to offer Twentieth Century Fox movies for rent through the iTunes Music Store, the Financial Times reported Thursday. Users would be able to download the latest Twentieth Century Fox movies from iTunes and view them for a limited time. No pricing details were available, but earlier reports suggested that Fox and Apple were talking about charging $2.99 for 30 days viewing. That’s considerably cheaper than competing services from BlockBuster (BBI) and NetFlix (NFLX), neither of which works with iTunes, Macs or iPods.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM) reported strong third-quarter earnings fueled by rapid consumer growth during the lead-up to the holiday season. This was strongly supported by growth in sales to non-business customers. Net income surged to $370.5 million or 65 cents a share, from $175.2 million, or 31 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue has doubled to $1.67 billion. The results allayed fears of slowing demand from its financial services customers in wake of the credit-market meltdown.

Walgreen’s (WAG) fiscal first-quarter net income rose 5.5% amid solid revenue gains and cost controls, as the company bounced back from a rough fiscal fourth quarter. The drugstore chain recorded a net income of $455.5 million, or 46 cents a share for the period ended Nov. 30, compared with $431.7 million, or 43 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 10% to $14.03 billion, as comparable-store sales rose 5.4%.

Americans may be turning to their favorite discount retailer for savings as the oil producing nations of the world extract more money from their pocketbooks. Wal-Mart (WMT) announced today its 3rd quarter profits rose nearly 8% and the company upwardly adjusted their earnings predictions for the year.

Finland is a land of many lakes, trees, endless days in the summer and a period of 51 grueling sunless days in the winter. It has been rated the freest nation in the world, according to international groups who rate such things, and has twice provided the world with the winner of the Miss Universe pageant (including the first woman to win the pageant in 1952).

Costco Wholesale (COST), perhaps benefiting from consumers hoping to save money as gas prices rise and the specter of inflation looms on the horizon, saw its profits rise 4.7% in the fourth quarter.

There have been widespread news reports suggesting the end of the rather short-lived ethanol boom. Ethanol was originally sold as a cure-all because it was renewable, good for farmers, great for midwestern cargo-rail, and brought jobs to rural interior communities.

September was a good month for bear positions on the housing sector (this is where we potentially returned 61.3%) and for Biotech and automakers. Daimler Chrysler and GM have seen over 10% in stock price gains over the past month.

If you ask someone who has visited Europe recently, they will tell you it isn’t nearly as cheap as it used to be. The weak US dollar may put a strain on our foreign travel budgets, but it has meant domestically produced goods and services are looking less and less expensive to the global market.

There has recently been a spate of media reports detailing the danger of chasing Jim Cramer recommendations. Ignoring this potentially sage advice to stay away, we dive headlong into the sometimes-erroneous hyperkinetic world of Jim Cramer to look at potential covered call trades on stocks he has recently plugged. (Note: Jim Cramer does not endorse any of the option strategies based on his stock selections illustrated in this article or on blog.poweropt.com)