CBS Moves on Call OptionsFebruary 3, 2010
 NEW YORK: Shares of CBS today rose nearly 5 percent as
call sales increased. Around 6,500 of these call options came into play by
early afternoon, according to OptionsNewsNetwork,
which said one possible reason is that the option price hadn’t met
expectations. CBS shares went from opening at $13.30 to trading at $13.77 by
around 3 p.m. EST. ONN said the
selling activity could also be attributed to a single investor long on shares
of CBS.
The media company is expected to announce 2009 fourth quarter results Feb. 18
with analysts forecasting earnings per share of 25 cents. Diluted EPS for the
third quarter of 2009 was 30 cents, exceeding Wall Street expectations of 22
cents. TV segment operating income was $440.6 million.
CBS this week announced that it had sold out air-time for the Super Bowl, which
pulled in $206 million for NBC last year. The network is capitalizing on the
game by scheduling a live interview by “CBS Evening News” anchor Katie Couric
with President Obama during the four-hour pre-game show.
Investors selling CBS may not be buying into the Super Bowl Indicator, as
described by Mark Hulbert of MarketWatch.
This year’s SBI calls for a bullish market, based on the origin of the two
teams in this Sunday’s Super Bowl, the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis
Colts.
“The Super Bowl Indicator, as many market followers know, holds that stocks
will rise over the coming year if the winning team can trace its roots back to
the original National Football League--and fall if that team's roots are in the
old American Football League. Followers claim that the Indicator has a 79
percent success rate, far better than most other popular stock market timing
systems,” Hulbert wrote, noting that both the of this year’s rivals started in
the NFL.
However, he warns, both teams were from the NFL last year as well, and the
market hit a historic low the following March 10.
(Image by cranberries)
|