Selling CSPs -- Screens for the week of 1-27-2018

Good morning all.  Happy weekend to all of us.

If you're not familiar with a good source for weekly options, especially for the newer folks here, make sure you bookmark the following link:

http://www.cboe.com/products/weeklys-options/available-weeklys

Owing to my own belief that I only place orders for CCs or CSPs in stocks that I wouldn't mind owning, I generate a watchlist every week of stocks meeting my criteria.  I'm happy to share my criteria, and if you have TradeStation, I have a free indicator that I wrote which makes it easy to screen for these.

Dividend-paying stocks that have been in a significant up-trend over the last 52 weeks which make my list are:

PHM
NVDA
AMAT
TOL
WYNN

Note that PHM has an ER on Tuesday, 1/30, NVDA on Thurs, 2/8 and AMAT on Thurs, 2/15, so be aware.

Non-dividend paying stocks that have been in a significant up-trend over the last 52 weeks are:

ALGN
DLTR
SQ
WB
ADBE
NAV
RHT
NFLX
URI
FCX

ALGN has an ER on 1/30 and DLTR is on 2/20, with the remainder all falling after 2/20.

The following stocks, (and 1 ETF -- ITB), also meet my criteria of paying dividends AND having "good" uptrend characteristics:

ADP
MSFT
MA
V
SYY
EMR
FOXA
ZTS
FDX
UNH
BK
KSU
AMTD
VZ
SWK
UNP
ITB

ADP/MSFT have ER on 1/31, MA/V have ER on 2/1, and SYY and the remaining stocks are on or after 2/5.

I like to give at least 1 week of buffer after my expiration date in case I have to repair and roll a position.

Finally, the following stocks pay no dividend and are on my "good" uptrend list are:

ILMN
EBAY
FB
GOOG
GOOGL
AMRN
SHAK
VMW

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If I apply the 1-week buffer criteria and not give much credence to dividends (at your own risk, of course), my list then becomes:

 AMAT
ZTS
DLTR
SQ
WB
AMRN
SHAK
VMW
TOL
ADBE
FDX
NAV
RHT
UNH
BK
KSU
AMTD
NFLX
WYNN
VZ
SWK
URI
FCX
UNP
ITB

This particular list has ER AFTER 2/9 and you'll have to screen for  xDiv and record dates.

A good place to screen for dividend dates is  http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/cboe/dividend-history

Out of this list only five strikes for CSPs appear that look somewhat probable, but I need to do more work later today to see if I'm going to enter these:

SQ 180202P45
WYNN 180202P175
VMW 180202P145
WB 180202P130
ZTS 180202P80

If I take a look at 2/9 expirations, again, ensuring that the ERs are all beyond 2/16, I have the following possible CSP candidates:

WYNN 180209P175
SQ 180209P45
EXAS 180209P48
FCX 180209P19
WB 180209P130
VMW 180209P145
URI 180209P180
MU 180209P41
RHT 180209P130
NFLX 180209P260
NAV 180209P45

These are listed in annualized rate of return relative to possible premium at the strike.  Actual premium will not be determined until after the open, and the spreads on some of these are misleading.

I note that URI and NAV both have underlying IVRank that is much lower than I like, so I probably will remove these.  I calculate everything else above IVR > 50

I'm sure there are other strikes to consider but these are my weekly CSP lists into Monday.  I always start with CSPs, and then if assigned, sell against the CC until it's called away.

Make it a great weekend.

Paul