INCY

Suggested in June at $3.40 and again at $5.62 ten weeks ago as part of a “basket” of three speculative drug stocks that might double “in a year or two,” INCY has nearly doubled already.  My guru says it’s doing great, with bright prospects and terrific management – but that much or all of that is now reflected in the price.  So I sold most of mine yesterday at $10.81.  (Thank you, guru.) 

 

I wouldn’t be surprised to see it go higher. 

 

So after I sold (think, Andy, think!), I realized there might be a smarter strategy.  For a friend whose spare change I manage, I didn’t sell.  Instead, I had him “write covered calls” against his INCY shares.  Someone paid my friend $1 a share for the right to “call away his stock” at $12.50 a share – nicely higher than the $10.81 I got – any time between now and June. 

 

If the stock heads back to $3, this will not have proved wise – but I don’t see that happening. 

 

If instead it rockets through $12.50, my friend winds up with $12.50 plus that $1 premium – $13.50 – which is a good bit better than the $10.81 I got. 

 

And if it sits more or less where it is today, and he were able to do this every six months (it never works this smoothly, but just to make the point), he’d be picking up an extra $2 a share every year until he sold.

 

Obama’s environmental report card

From the National Resources Defense Council (in very small part):

 

In his first year in office, President Barack Obama and his administration have taken a remarkable number of actions to address a wide variety of environmental challenges. From investing in clean energy technology through the stimulus bills to increasing energy efficiency, the Administration has done more in its first few months to protect our air, water and communities than we’ve seen in the last decade. . . . 

 

REPUBLICAN REPORT CARD

So Chris Matthews asks a top Republican strategist the best things the Republicans have done for the country in the last 20 years, and, well, it was awkward.  I know some of you are Republicans – and I honor your open-mindedness in visiting this site – so feel free to email me your list. 

 

A BOY NAMED SUE

Transgender people made me very nervous before I actually knew any.  Now that I count several as friends and have seen their courage and deep basic human dignity, the nervousness is all but gone.  Isn’t that the way?  (Flying is unnatural and nervous-making at first, too, but soon the only issue is whether you get an aisle seat.)  Don’t miss Rachel Maddow’s two minutes on the President’s recent transgender appointment.

 

CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Under attack by the Republicans, the proposed CFPA is about more than just enlarging the fine print of mortgage applications.  As Elizabeth Warren tells Rachel Maddow, it would have prevented the financial meltdown.  Well worth your six minutes.

 

Have a great weekend.