An Opportunity To Earn 30% From This ‘Hated’ Tech Stock

Marvell Technology (NASDAQ: MRVL), a maker of flash memory drives and semiconductor chips, has had a rough summer. The company faced challenges with one of its Asian customers and a greater-than-expected decline in demand for 3G equipment has caused investors to doubt future growth prospects.

Last month, the company announced strong second-quarter earnings of $0.34 per share, up 48% from a year ago and beating analyst expectations of $0.28. Revenue of $961.5 million was in line with estimates and up 19% versus the same quarter last year. But despite the strong performance, the company issued weak guidance of $0.27 to $0.31 per share for the third quarter, below consensus expectations for $0.32.

The lower 3G demand is likely to blame for the stock’s decline this summer. Shares dropped from a spring high well above $16 to below $13 last month. At this point, MRVL appears to have bottomed. Investors have likely priced in the bad news, so it is unlikely that the stock will continue to decline.

MRVL Stock Chart

While the bad news has captured headlines, there is a silver lining. Some analysts believe that with 3G demand waning, the company will be able to focus its efforts on higher margin products such as LTE and storage markets. These stronger markets could improve profit margins and keep earnings stable. Comments from these analysts may have helped fuel the stock’s rebound, and the volatility in the stock has fueled option prices.

For the current fiscal year (ending January 2015), analysts expect the company to generate earnings of $1.17 per share, up from $1.02 in fiscal 2014. It is important to note that these estimates have been adjusted since the company’s earnings report and include the most recent 3G weakness in the models. For fiscal 2016, analysts expect the company to earn $1.19 per share.

#-ad_banner-#​MRVL is trading at less than 12 times expected earnings for this year and next. With the potential for improvements in profit margins, this looks like a very fair — if not attractive — price for the stock.

Today, I want to set up a put selling income trade that will benefit from the recent volatility and a continued rebound in the stock price, but will also do just fine if MRVL remains flat over the next couple of months. Specifically, we’re going to sell the MRVL Oct 14 Puts with a limit price of $0.50.

By selling these puts, we are accepting an obligation to buy 100 shares of MRVL per contract at the $14 strike price if the stock is trading below this level when the puts expire on Oct. 18. MRVL is currently below $14, but there is a strong possibility that the stock could move above this level before October expiration.

Plus, since we are receiving $0.50 per share ($50 per contract), our net cost is reduced to $13.50 per share, which is 2.5% below recent prices. This is a nice discount to the current price and would represent an attractive spot to get long the stock given the possibility for improving profit margins.

To cover this obligation, we need to set aside $1,350 per contract. If MRVL moves back above $14, the $50 in option premium represents a 3.7% return on our allocated capital in 45 days. Therefore, our per-year rate of return nets out to 30%.

All things considered, MRVL looks like an attractive candidate for generating income with our put selling strategy. The stock has found support, the options are trading with plenty of premium, and the company’s fundamentals look promising.

P.S.– If we do end up being assigned shares, keep in mind the potential to generate additional income. Since MRVL has experienced a material amount of volatility, option prices should remain relatively high. So if we wind up long the stock in October, it may make sense to use another options selling strategy that is similar to “renting” out your shares to other investors. And if you want to find out how you can start “renting” shares of the stocks already in your portfolio today, follow this link.

This article originally appeared on ProfitableTrading.com: Silver Lining to This Tech Stock’s Woes May Be A 30% Annual Yield