Dear SEC: There is a possible attempt to manipulate the stock price of DELL by aggressively selling puts the day after Dell issued an earnings warning. Here is a link to the article that discussed it:
siliconinvestor.com
Lowdown on Dell... Along that line, stock buybacks and selling puts are part of the game. I want to share an email I got from a Rap reader who is an option-market maker down in the pits. This is what he had to say about yesterday's action in Dell:
"Just thought I would give you some insight on what was going on down in the pits today, since you give me good perspective every day in your column. (Much appreciated.) Right from the opening this morning, Goldman came down and sold puts after puts to us in the big Dell. Dumping puts like I have never seen before on an earnings warning aftermath.
"There's almost always an episode of frantic put buying the morning after. But anyway, my point is, guess who was selling the puts! It was Dell, the company, a big client of Goldman, selling the puts as I'm sure they would claim it was part of its stock buyback program. But this was evident it was just to keep the stock from imploding. They sold about 25,000 November 37 1/2 and November 35 puts to us. This kept the crowd buying stock all morning to hedge the puts we were buying, effectively helping the stock stay about 37 1/2. I'm sure they would have sold us more, but once the stock was stabilized, buyers started to appear in the stock and their job was done."
If this is true, is it legal? |
