Jim Cramer Blog

Here are 7 options to watch for today.
Most Under-Priced Calls: These are the most under priced calls of all stocks in our database. This stock comes from today's list and is among the most under-priced individual calls.
Amazon.com Oct 100 Calls (NasdaqGS:AMZN - News). AMZN's PowerRating (for Traders) is 4.
Most Under-Priced Puts: These are the most under priced puts of all stocks in our database. This stock comes from today's list and is among the most under-priced individual puts.
Baidu.com Oct 240 Puts (NasdaqGS:BIDU - News). BIDU's PowerRating (for Traders) is 6.
Most Overpriced Calls: These are the most overpriced calls of all stocks in our database. This stock comes from today's list and is among the most overpriced individual calls.
Research in Motion Oct 115 Calls (NasdaqGS:RIMM - News). DISH's PowerRating (for Traders) is 4.
Most Overpriced Puts: These are the most overpriced puts of all stocks in our database. This stock comes from today's list and is among the most overpriced individual puts.
MasterCard Nov 125 Puts (NYSE:MA - News). MA's PowerRating (for Traders) is 4.
Stocks with Abnormal Call Volume: These are stocks which showed unusual call option volume not easily explained by arbitrage operations. The appearance of a stock on the Call Volume Alerts list suggests a possible takeover, extraordinarily good earnings report, or other news which may favorably affect the stock.
Travelzoo (NasdaqGS:TZOO - News). TZOO's PowerRating (for Traders) is 3.
Stocks with Abnormal Put Volume: These are stocks which showed unusual put option volume not easily explained by arbitrage operations. The appearance of a stock on the Put Volume Alerts list suggests an extraordinarily negative earnings report, or other news which may negatively affect the stock.
NutriSystem (NasdaqGS:NTRI - News). NTRI's PowerRating (for Traders) is 5.
Abnormal Put/Call $ Volume: These stocks have the highest dollar put volume in relation to their call volume. These high ratios are indicative of extreme bearish sentiment in the underlying stock.
Beazer Homes USA (NYSE:BZH - News). BZH's PowerRating (for Traders) is 5.
Published By TradingMarkets.com

Labels: Amazon.com Inc., AMZN, BIDU, NTRI, NutriSystem Inc., Research in Motion Ltd., RIMM, stock options, Travelzoo, TZOO

Symbol
Name
Last Trade
Change
Volume
Related Info
CTHR
CHARLES & COLVARD
5.01 4:00PM ET
1.73 (25.67%)
510,458

TZOO
TRAVELZOO INC
28.16 4:00PM ET
8.72 (23.64%)
3,305,108

DTLK
DATALINK CORP
6.76 4:00PM ET
1.80 (21.03%)
1,085,706

IRN
REWARDS NETWORK
4.37 4:11PM ET
1.16 (20.98%)
491,500

ASTIW
ASCENT SOLAR TECH
2.76 3:59PM ET
0.68 (19.76%)
169,350

DSTIZ
DAYSTAR TECHNOLOGIES
0.9190 4:00PM ET
0.2210 (19.39%)
48,011

EXBD
CORP EXEC BOARD CO
60.06 4:00PM ET
13.43 (18.27%)
9,667,130

EML
EASTERN CO
25.45 4:00PM ET
5.33 (17.32%)
317,800

AVNR
AVANIR PHARMACEUTICL
3.40 4:01PM ET
0.67 (16.46%)
11,150,619

ENWV
ENDWAVE CORP
9.99 3:59PM ET
1.81 (15.34%)
410,902

TAYC
TAYLOR CAP GRP INC
31.70 4:00PM ET
5.04 (13.72%)
394,427

HTCH
HUTCHINSON TECH
19.11 4:00PM ET
3.00 (13.57%)
5,117,310

SSTI
SILICON STORAGE TE
4.2599 4:00PM ET
0.6201 (12.71%)
3,787,970

SUNW
SUN MICROSYS INC
5.27 4:00PM ET
0.67 (11.28%)
322,296,456

ZVUEZ
HANDHELD ENTERTAINME
1.07 2:13PM ET
0.13 (10.83%)
700

OPTT
OCEAN POWER TECH INC
17.84 3:59PM ET
2.16 (10.80%)
3,064,611

VG
VONAGE HOLDINGS CORP
3.32 4:02PM ET
0.40 (10.75%)
9,403,342

LDIS
LEADIS TECHNOLOGY
3.58 4:00PM ET
0.43 (10.72%)
571,251

ANAD
ANADIGICS INC
11.74 4:00PM ET
1.41 (10.72%)
8,425,908

PARS
PHARMOS CORP
1.60 4:00PM ET
0.19 (10.57%)
507,393

Labels: ANAD, ASTIW, AVNR, CTHR, DSTIZ, DTLK, EML, ENWV, EXBD, HTCH, IRN, LDIS, OPTT, PARS, SSTI, SUNW, TAYC, TZOO, VG, ZVUEZ

Nu Skin Enterprises (NYSE:NUS - News) shares fell after the Provo, Utah-based direct seller of personal care products said it expects earnings of 14 to 16 cents a share in the first quarter on revenue of between $260 million and $265 million. Wall Street's current consensus estimate is for a profit of 19 cents a share in March period.
Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. (NYSE:RL - News) reported a 22% gain in fiscal third-quarter profit, buoyed by new products, new stores and international expansion, but forecast fiscal 2008 earnings shy of Street forecasts.
RenaissanceRe Holdings (NYSE:RNR - News) reported a huge quarterly profit, but the reinsurer cut its 2007 premium forecast citing softening prices and the impact of a new Florida insurance law.
ResMed (NYSE:RMD - News) shares dropped after the company reported second-quarter net earnings of $29 million, or 37 cents a share, compared with $22.3 million, or 30 cents a share, in the same period last year, boosted by higher sales of sleep products. Excluding stock-based compensation, among other items, the maker of medical equipment posted per-share earnings of 43 cents vs. 36 cents last year. Revenue rose 22% to $178.4 million from $146.4 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had expected revenue of $182 million.
Sara Lee Corp. (NYSE:SLE - News) swung to a second-quarter net loss of $62 million, or 8 cents a share, from year-ago income of $438 million, or 57 cents. The loss from continuing operations also came to 8 cents a share. Charges reduced earnings by 29 cents a share, the Chicago consumer-products company said. Sales for the three months ended Dec. 30 rose 7% to $3.18 billion from $2.97 billion a year ago. Analysts, on average, forecast earnings of 16 cents a share on sales of $3.08 billion, according to Thomson Financial. Sara Lee, whose brands include Ball Park franks, Senseo coffee and Kiwi shoe polish, expects fiscal 2007 earnings in a range of 58 cents to 64 cents a share, including items. Analysts' estimate stands at 82 cents a share.
St. Joe Co. (NYSE:JOE - News) was downgraded to hold from buy at BB&T Capital Markets.
Travelzoo Inc. (NasdaqGS:TZOO - News) said fourth-quarter net income rose, as Europe and North America sales grew, to $4.29 million, or 26 cents a share, from $1.65 million, or 10 cents a share, during the same period in the prior year.
Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. (NasdaqGM:TRMP - News) reported a narrower fourth-quarter loss, helped by cost cuts and rising revenue.
Tyco International (NYSE:TYC - News) was downgraded to hold at Deutsche Bank.
Whirlpool Corp. (NYSE:WHR - News) shares fell as the home-appliance manufacturer reported a fourth-quarter profit that declined amid surging material costs and lower industry demand in the U.S.

Labels: JOE, NUS, RL, RMD, RNR, SLE, TRMP, TYC, TZOO, WHR

“Hike, Hike?” For investors’, ‘just right’ Goldilocks economic conditions made for some offensive and a January barometer cheering ‘Da Bulls as 2007’s stateside champs. For the five-day period, the NASDAQ Composite ($COMPQ) and S&P500 ($SPX) are higher by 1.66% to 1.83%.“Hike, Hike!” Investors possibly heard those words over the weekend, but apparently not from the guy in charge of driving the markets forward. Early action in the first-half of trade was generally conducive to the bulls taking control of the offense. A flurry of Merger Monday activity (BMY, CFC, MER, SYMC, C and LAUR) and profit-taking in oil that day saw some players come in off the sidelines. In general though, the first-half was a sleeper of second string shuffling with little in the way of decisive movement. In fact, with Tuesday ushering in leadership from the energy complex (XLE, OIH), one might say The Curly Shuffle was seen as growing popular with investors. Black Gold reversed back through $55 to close up by nearly three points at $56.97, but due to the influential weighting of energy stocks, a positive catalyst for the broader indices was offered. With disappointing earnings from the Three Stooges a.k.a. Pharma giant Merck (MRK), 3M (MMM) and United Parcel (UPS) that day, the market certainly has a good sense of humor.Wednesday’s kick-off brought out the first team and a more serious game face to boot. The Q4 Advance GDP rose a stronger-than-anticipated 3.5% versus analysts’ estimates of 3.0%. While investor cheer could be heard on that front, an in-line 1.5% chain deflator, a slightly better-than-expected employment cost index (.8% vs 1.0%) and a drop of -.8% in the PCE price index were mixed enough in their overall readings as to hint that the Fed would maintain a hawkish lean. That being said, the bulls called an intraday timeout as they waited on play confirmation from the market’s quarterback.A quarterback sneak by Bernanke with a call of ‘5.25% and further rate hikes may yet be necessary’ was apparently understood by the offense to signal the charge forward. Despite having already offered out the same play and one that still implies that any change in policy will likely be towards tightening, the market rallied around the statement. Further recognition by the Fed that the economy has turned up, housing stabilized and price pressures still only affording bluffing tactics might be seen as reasons behind the Hail Mary by investors. Thursday did offer bulls’ leaning on policy verbiage of ‘improved and should moderate further’, confirmation of easing price pressures. The Fed’s favored price gauge, the core PCE deflator, rose just .1% in December. The benign reading comes on the heels of a flat result in November and can be seen as a positive trend towards lower inflation. On the other hand, an unexpected slip to contraction levels of 47.5% versus estimates of 51.5% for the ISM Index and a bump of 5.5% to 53% for the prices paid component should serve as reminders that ‘Da Bears could still find their game, despite being underdogs on Wall Street and other playing fields. A ‘just right’ jobs report delivered on Friday didn’t have the bears hearing “Hike, Hike” to begin their own offensive assault. Nonfarm payrolls that were adjusted for ‘now complete’ tax data turned a “miss” of 39,000 into a figure that was perfectly in-line with expectations. Further, a drop of .1% in December hourly earnings and a current .2% reading that was below estimates of .3% helped the bulls with their case. In recent months with wage-based pressures weighing heavily on the Fed, the combined data goes a long way towards easing those concerns.
ON TAP THIS WEEK
Economic watchdogs will be finding a reprieve this week. A much lighter and less significant calendar of catalysts are on tap. Further expectations for “just right” economic conditions will need to find additional momentum from investors without much actual evidence. One report that investors could key off of will be Monday’s ISM Services figure. After a disappointing ISM manufacturing figure, a stronger result might result in a sigh of relief and a rallying point. A worse-then-expected result, using that logic, would likely find investors focused on profit-taking.An additional factor jockeying for investors’ attention will be the price of oil. Since contract lows were set nearly three weeks ago, higher prices in Black Gold have yet to impact the market in a negative capacity, despite price gains of nearly 8 points or 15% to $59-a-barrel. Of course much of the broader market’s resilience is due to the energy complex (XLE, OIH) having enjoyed a tremendous rally simultaneously. As one of the market’s most heavily-weighted sectors, the potential negative impact of higher prices has thus been negligible. That being said, it will be interesting to see if the spin machine focusing on consumer spending and corporate profits goes back to work this week. It will be another week of heavy corporate reporting for earnings hounds. With close to two-thirds of S&P500 companies having delivered their Q4 results, aggregate earnings are shaping up slightly stronger at roughly 11%. However, while some relief might be felt over the possibility for a fourteenth quarter of double digit growth, all other benchmarks are off fairly hard and do point at much slower profit growth heading into the first-quarter. Eyeballing guidance figures and its readily apparent that revisions lower, rather than stronger outlooks are more the standard operating procedure and reaffirmations the most popular avenue taken. In spite of the current BTE parade, maybe that’s one reason that forecasts for Q1 have been lowered to 5% during the same period.
Monday
Economic: ISM Services (57)
Earnings: BE Aero (BEAV), Potlatch (PCH), Royal Carib (RCL), Anadarko (APC), Las Vegas Sands (LVS), Edwards LS (EW), Sohu (SOHU), Pitney (PBI), Thomas & Betts (TNB), WMS (WMS)
Tuesday
Economic: N/A
Earnings: Auto Data (ADP), Celanese (CE), Duke (DUK), InterActive (IACI), Intl SE (ISE), Littlefuse (LFUS), Louisiana Pac (LPX), Natl Oilwell (NOV), Tyco (TYC), Cisco (CSCO), Dentsply (XRAY), Diodes (DIOD), FEI Co (FEIC), ResMed (RMD), Travelzoo (TZOO), USANA (USNA)
Wednesday
Economic: Productivity (1.7%), Weekly Crude
Earnings: Cigna (CI), Devon (DVN), Intcnl Exchange (ICE), Lazard (LAZ), MedImmune (MEDI),Tim Hortons (THI), Whirlpool (WHR), Affymetrix (AFFX), Akamai (AKAM), Alcon (AL), Maxim (MXIM), UEPS Tech (UEPS), Riverbed (RVBD), Sina (SINA), Disney (DIS)Thursday
Economic: Weekly Claims (310K), Wholesale Inv (.6%)
Earnings: Aetna (AET), Bunge (BG), Carlisle (CSL), Corrections Co. (CXW), Diamond Offshore (DO). Express Scripts (ESRX), FLIR Systems (FLIR), Level 3 (LVLT), Marriott (MAR), Walter Ind (WLT), Qwest (Q), Broadcom (BRCM), Digital River (DRIV), Comtech (COGO), Panera (PNRA), Energy Conversion (ENER), Lifepoint (LPNT), Opentext (OTEX), W.G’Batch (GB) Friday
Economic: NA
Earnings: Alcatel-Lucent (ALU), Hasbro (HAS), MasterCard (MA), Weyerhauser (WY), AGCO (AG), American S & E (ASEI), Coventry (CVH)
By Chris Tyler, Optionetics.com

Labels: ADP, APC, BEAV, CE, CSCO, DUK, EW, IACI, ISE, LFUS, LPX, LVS, NOV, PBI, PCH, SOHU, TNB, TYC, TZOO, WMS