Earnings season is officially behind us. However, that doesn’t mean that we won’t have an opportunity or two to rear its head on a weekly basis. This week Micron (MU) and Lululemon (LULU) present potential opportunities. The options are highly liquid in both underlying stocks and the IV rank for both sits above 40. Moreover, we have the ability to create a nice, wide range around the expected moves.

Earnings season is officially behind us. However, that doesn’t mean that we won’t have an opportunity or two rear its head on a weekly basis. This week Nike (NKE) presents a potential opportunity. The options are highly liquid and the IV rank sits above 67. Moreover, we have the ability to create a 31-point range around the expected move of 21 points. We won’t know for certain if a trade will be placed until Tuesday, but all looks promising at the moment as long as the range (or something similar in width) and premium hold up into mid-day Tuesday.

Earnings season is officially behind us. However, that doesn’t mean that we won’t have an opportunity or two rear its head on a weekly basis. This week FedEx (FDX) presents a potential opportunity. The options are highly liquid and the IV rank sits above 48. Moreover, we have the ability to create a 42.5-point range around the expected move of 27.5 points. We won’t know for certain if a trade will be placed until Thursday, but all looks promising at the moment.

Earnings season is officially behind us. However, there will still be some opportunities as we enter the earnings doldrums.


Looking back on the previous earnings season, our conservative approach led to a 100% win ratio, though we only made 6 trades. Obviously, this is on the lower side for the number of trades that we typically make. But going back to June, when I started all of my options services here at Cabot, I’ve stated on numerous occasions that I intend on taking a more conservative approach while we continue to endure the ongoing signs of a bear market. Remember, it’s always quality over quantity. That being said, when we see a sense of normalcy return to the market, which could be soon (crossing fingers), that number of trades per earnings season will certainly pick back up.

We had the good fortune to lock in a gain in Home Depot (HD) early last week. The win marked our sixth this earnings season for a cumulative total of 36.9%. That’s a healthy return for this earnings season, especially when you consider the S&P 500 is basically flat since our first trade in JPM back on January 12, 2023. Hopefully the market offers up a few more opportunities to increase our current totals.

As earnings season comes to a close, we still have several opportunities ahead of us.


The holiday-shortened week starts with the potential success or failure of our Home Depot (HD) trade placed late in Friday’s trading session. Due to the market closure on Monday and HD’s earnings announcement prior to the opening bell Tuesday, we needed to place a trade on Friday.

It’s a slow week for the earnings calendar as we begin to wind down earnings season. There are only a few noteworthy opportunities with our focus squarely on Cisco Systems (CSCO), Devon Energy (DVN) and Coca-Cola (KO). Admittedly, while the three companies fulfill our liquidity screen, the options premiums offered in each are less than ideal, which could ultimately be a deterrent from taking a trade this week. No worries, because some of our favorite trading opportunities come the following week in the form of Walmart (WMT) and Home Depot (HD).

The probabilities continue to lead to the way!

Last week, we placed an earnings trade in Starbucks (SBUX). Per usual, we used an iron condor, but went with a slightly more conservative approach by increasing our probabilities of success on both sides of the trade to just over 90%.

Thankfully, SBUX opened up well within our chosen range after earnings and as a result we were able to immediately take off the trade for a one-day profit of just under 6%. For those who waited a little longer to take off the trade, a 9.5% return was easily attainable.

We’ve had a good start to earnings season with three out of three successful trades. We hope to extend our winning streak this week using two or three of the stocks mentioned below.

Last week was a bit of a dud for earnings announcements.


While numerous companies announced earnings, only a few companies met our guideline of having high levels of options liquidity. But that all changes this week.



This week could be the busiest of the earnings season with upwards of seven potential trades. My guess is that we will make anywhere from 3 to 5 trades with most of the trading activity occurring during the latter half of the week.

Last week we entered our first trade of the earnings season. Last Friday, JPM announced earnings, and the stock immediately pushed lower after the release. The stock opened at 135 and tested the short 133 put of our iron condor. As a result, we decided to exit the one-day trade for just over 4%, not too bad for a one-day gain. Of course, JPM continued to trade higher, giving those that decided to hold on to the trade a little longer the opportunity to take the trade off the table for roughly double the return.

Earnings season officially starts this Friday with JPMorgan (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C) and Wells Fargo (WFC) kicking it off prior to the opening bell.


Other than the big banks it’s going to be a slow week for earnings, but hey, earnings season has finally arrived, and I expect that we will have one if not two trades heading into the latter part of the week.

Cabot Options Institute Earnings Trader shows you how to use options to profit during the most profitable period in the market: earnings season. Most people are unaware, but you can reliably collect a month’s worth of gains in a matter of days… and sometimes hours.

Cabot Options Institute Earnings Trader shows you how to use options to profit during the most profitable period in the market: earnings season. Most people are unaware, but you can reliably collect a month’s worth of gains in a matter of days… and sometimes hours.

I will be exiting the Home Depot (HD) trade today.

As discussed on our weekly call today, I will be taking a position in Home Depot (HD). HD is due to announce earnings before the opening bell Tuesday (February 21). The stock is currently trading for 315.41. The reason I am placing the trade today is due to the market being closed on Monday, so this is the only time we can get in prior to the announcement. The earnings date is also the same for WMT, but as I explained on our call earlier today, I do not want to have two open earnings-based positions carry through the long weekend so I will not be trading WMT for this earnings cycle.

I will be exiting the Disney (DIS) trade today. I will discuss the trade in greater detail in our subscriber-exclusive webinar at noon ET tomorrow, February 10.

As discussed in our weekly issue this week, and on our weekly call last Friday, I will be taking a position in Disney (DIS) today. DIS is due to announce earnings after the closing bell today (February 8). The stock is currently trading for 111.10.

I will be exiting the Starbucks (SBUX) trade today. I will discuss the trade in greater detail in our subscriber-exclusive webinar at noon ET today, February 3.

As discussed in our weekly issue, and on our weekly call, I will be taking a position in Starbucks (SBUX) today. SBUX is due to announce earnings after the closing bell today (February 2). The stock is currently trading for 110.83.

I will be exiting the Visa (V) trade today. I will discuss the trade in greater detail in our subscriber-exclusive webinar at noon ET today, January 27.

I will be exiting the Mastercard (MA) trade today. I will discuss the trade in greater detail in our subscriber-exclusive webinar at noon ET tomorrow, January 27.

As discussed in our weekly issue and on our weekly call, I will be taking a position in Mastercard (MA) today.

Tomorrow marks the earnings releases of several big banks, most notably JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC) and Wells Fargo (WFC).

Tomorrow marks the earnings releases of several big banks, most notably JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC) and Wells Fargo (WFC).

I will be exiting the Home Depot (HD) trade today. I will discuss the trade in greater detail in our upcoming subscriber-exclusive webinar, at noon ET this Friday.

An updated portfolio for Cabot Options Institute – Earnings Trader.