Yahoo Options Heating Up

It’s official, Carl Icahn confirmed he’s got a “team” in place for a proxy fight with Yahoo (YHOO, $26.98, down $0.18). It was revealed that Icahn acquired nearly 60 million shares of Yahoo stock over the past 10 days. Talk about a “Dream Team”, Icahn’s new board would include himself, Adam Dell (brother of Michael Dell) and Mark Cuban (famous sports owner of the Dallas Mavs).

In a letter to Yahoo, here is what Icahn wrote: “It is quite obvious that Microsoft’s bid of $33 per share is a superior alternative to Yahoo’s prospects on a standalone basis. I am perplexed by the board’s actions. It is irresponsible to hide behind management’s more than overly optimistic financial forecasts. It is unconscionable that you have not allowed your shareholders to choose to accept an offer that represented a 72% premium over Yahoo’s closing price of $19.18 on the day before the initial Microsoft offer.”

Good stuff no doubt but can you ride this upcoming rally in Yahoo? What it boils down to is if Yahoo will get bought out at $30 or higher. I can tell you this, Icahn isn’t going to keep his money locked up for long. No way. Yahoo’s annual shareholder meeting is set for July 3 so there you go.

The action on Yahoo’s June 27.50 calls (YHQFY, $1.20, down $0.32) is ridiculous. So far, 42,000 contracts have traded. I can see the logic with this one. Option traders are betting $120 to make $250. If Yahoo is at $30 by June 20 then they double their money.

The July 27.50 calls (YHQGY, $1.91, down $0.12) have traded 15,000 contracts and these don’t expire until July 18.

I’m not getting on a soap box and yelling that these are good bets, all I’m saying is that the crowd seems to be following Icahn once again.

Rick Rouse
Rick@OptionsMentoring.com

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