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Can UPS, WDC, LUV Deliver Strong Earnings Beats for These Bullish Bets? 

by | Jan 29, 2025

LIVE AT 2PM ET: UNUSUAL OPTIONS FOR EARNINGS — TSLA, META, MSFT AND MORE

Today’s a monster day for earnings, with Big Tech behemoths like Tesla, Meta and Microsoft all announcing results after the close.

We also have the latest FOMC meeting at 2 p.m. ET, which could cause some spikes in volatility. Not only that, but I’ll be live at 2 o’clock for a special Unusual Options live trading session.

Of course, TSLA, META and MSFT are three pricey stocks, so we won’t be discussing them here, where we like to hunt for cheaper earnings plays that appeal more to the masses.

I’m looking for these big, expensive names to sell off post-FOMC… giving us better entries. If you want to join me at 2 p.m., we’ll see what’s hitting in the big names then!

For now, let’s take a look at some cheaper names…

Starting with good ol’ Universal Parcel Service (UPS). UPS reports before the open Thursday, and market makers expect a move of $8.25 higher or lower on the announcement, and $8.50 by expiration, with shares trading just north of $135 Wednesday afternoon.

A trader snagged the Jan. 31 expiration, $144 strike calls Tuesday morning. So this play is outside the expected move for UPS. However, this is a nice chunk of premium for this stock — right at a cool half-million bucks.

This tells us this trade is pretty darn bullish. So, if we felt the same about UPS, what we’d do is move a little closer to the money — the $140 strikes expiring Friday is going for $2.29 a contract as of 12:50 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

Now, this play can and will go to $0 if wrong or if the stock doesn’t move enough, which is exactly why we’d consider moving closer to the money than the $144 strike the buyer bought. Always respect that risk.

Western Digital (WDC) reports after the close today, and we’ve seen a couple of bullish plays in this data storage devices company, both in the February $59 and $69 strike calls.

WDC is trading right at $63 a share this afternoon. So the $59 calls are deep in the money — and much more expensive with a Delta that’s more sensitive to the moves of the underlying stock. But that tells us this trader could have a lot of confidence in this trade because it’s so deep ITM.

With market makers expecting a move of $4.67 higher or lower on the announcement, we’d look at those $67.50 strike calls — IF we felt strong about this play being a smart trade. They’re going for around $1.70 a contract this afternoon.

Calls expiring this Friday are super risky, and also not really going for that much less than $1.70 a contract.

Finally, Southwest Airlines (LUV) also reports in the morning. Airlines, particularly JetBlue (JBLU) have taken a bit of a pounding this week, so that’s something to keep in mind.

But a trader did snag the February $32 calls in LUV late Tuesday afternoon, and it’s about $236k in premium… a strong bet. And these February calls are going for around $1.16 a contract this afternoon — that’s the sweet spot for CHEAP options!

Just don’t forget to respect that risk!

Order Flow: 

*This is for informational and educational purposes only. These are not official alerts issued by Lance, but rather some interesting orders picked by the team at Lance Ippolito Trading.

There is inherent risk in trading. Trade at your own risk.

Note: If no date is listed after the month, it’s the monthly expiration (third Friday).

The team at Lance Ippolito Trading

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*This is for informational and educational purposes only. There is inherent risk in trading, so trade at your own risk. 

P.S. [LIVE NOW] The HOTTEST Opportunity to Trade Tesla Today! 

It’s time!!!

Tesla will release its earnings report later today – leaving us a number of trading opportunities to take advantage of within the next 24 hours.

Join in as we spot some of them live right now…

And also learn how you could target pretty decent returns while trading them.

I can’t guarantee profits or prevent losses…

But judging by the number of high-level players waiting in anticipation for this release…

There’s definitely room for you and I to ride the tide whichever way it turns.

Join in live right now so you don’t miss anything.

Join the Room Now and Don’t Miss Out

WRITTEN BY<br>Lance Ippolito

WRITTEN BY
Lance Ippolito

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