the officers of the medina police department and myself were not gonna let that happen. we were gonna do all that we could to solve this crime. homer was a good man, and he didn't deserve to die that way. -- captions by vitac -- right now on "o.a.," the notable moves in the options market in this final week of 2022, from a ride-sharing gian to an ev infrastructure play to the rise in the housing market we're check the action coming up plus, pick the time frame. one year, three year, five year, we'll break down a dow component that's been a dog for some time. can this pharmacy giant flip the script in 2023 and later, a trader with a bullish way, bet on the banks before they kim off earnings season. i'm melissa lee. on the desk tonight, mike khouw, brian sutland and special guest,

guy adami. action this week, amazon, southwest, t-mobile, lyft, and charge point let's start off with lyft. shares down nearly 75% this year mike, what has the action been here today >> yeah, we saw the stock hit its lows for the year on wednesday, and then it bounced really hard, and we saw a lot of bullish activity going on in lift women saw a purchase of 50,000 of the january 11 12.5 call treads early early this week making a bullish bet, risking it 50 cen or so on a bet this thing could get up to 12.5 by january expiration, which is three weeks from today what's going on here -- this is an interesting case, because 2023 is going to be a really important year for lyft. it's going to be the first year where the company is going to see positive earnings and positive free cash flow.

at least that's what the street expects. if it does, we're looking at a company trading forward if it gets to that $300 million in that income. >> brian >> lyft earnings are february 8th. i'd be playing february options. maybe the stock is going to move higher it seems like a very bullish bet to me, the way it's structured. remember to be last three quarters it's moved over 16% in either direction after earnings, so huge moves, and that's why calls make more sense for that kind of volatility played to the upside if you're going to trade it to the upside. >> guy, are you optimistic about lyft >> i am, actually. you can make a case for lyft on valuations mike just said. they're trading basically at one time revenue it's been beaten up all year, and '23 could be a year where they surprise people you're finally seeing, i think, some positive momentum out of management i think they figured it out. if they can get just a little bit of tail winds, this is a stock that i think it could surprise you early next year.

>> all right now let's get to charge point. this is one of the biggest moves in today's session after an s.e.c. filing revealed qgrg bought more than 1 million shares of the ev charge tech maker. mike >> yeah. the options trade was actually even bigger because there was a purchase of 46,500 that represents 4.6 million shares of the stock. this also bouncing off its low interesting because that houston company founded to make structures in oil and gas. they're obviously pivoting to a more forward-thinking green energy play here. >> guy >> cto resigned recently i don't think that's necessarily a good thing there haven't been a lot of positive catalyst in a environment where there pretty much should have been.

so i see mike talking about the call, people buying it at 10 bucks, to me it's wishful thinking. >> let's get to a couple of etfs with big options tied to corporate debt both impacted as corporate bankruptcy rates have been on the rise mike, what did you see >> jan 87 put. lqd was the one that saw the much bigger trade. to put things in perspective, 42,000. that would hit levels basically not seen since the credit crisis so some big bearish bets there. lqd just as a reminder does have some duration to it. >> brian >> yes, and the duration point of lqd, about nine years its duration. holdings there are some names in there, at&t, boeing out 30 years. a weird play. i think this options play is more of a protective put spread, so to speak, in case rates go to

4.25%. someone is putting the put spread on to protect the downside of the bond movement in that scenario. to me that makes sense, because this kind of etf isn't my favorite to play mixed income. >> yeah. rates going up 4.25% don't seem too far off, guy, at this point. >> no. and i know you a memory like an elephant, and if you recall on cnbc's "fast money" 5:00 each weekday, we talk about jeep being the most important in the market, so these things certainly mirror that, and i think lower in all three of them, when you include hyg. i would also submit whatever's behind brian's left shoulder the art work, is fantastic looks like a large squid or something. >> it does or a jellyfish, maybe? brian what is that can you shed some light? >> well, when you're in south florida, little vacation right before the new year's, celebrate, get warm weather out of chicago i don't know

it's something artsy to represent the area i guess. >> makes more sense if you're in florida. i thought you were in the chicago area, and that made no sense whatsoever. >> no. >> let's get to china. we're seeing the end of covid zero and a midge re-opening. russian president vladimir putin inviting chinese president xi jinping to make a state visit early next year. ishare has been a big winner, up 30%. mike, what did you see >> a buyer of 30,000 is what we saw. call spread. betting can continue sbooer going to see this thing up another 10% to 15% by february expiration >> brian >> yeah. we have been seein these call spreads trade quite frequently anytime there's a pullback i fxi seems like somebody buys the call spreads so it's interesting they play this some resistance around the 33, 34 level so it makes sens it's a call spread and you're capping your upside. maybe this is just a cheap way to play the upside if that momentum continues that way.

>> all right well, as much as we appreciate guy adami gracing us with his presence, we all miss carter braxton worth. he says he is indeed sorry he couldn't make it tonight he is one of the many caught in this week's storm travel mess. he does send wishes. happy new year, team see you next week on set here's to a prosperous 2023. he also sent a postcard trade from the road, highlighting gold bullion, highlighting its trade when it was all but proclaimed dead as a hedge by crypto crowd and others just the last half hour, you did say metals, guy, including gold. >> i'm sorry he got caught up in that maelstrom of u.s. travel. buying the physical metal and couple that with central banks, pushing alarm buttons in terms of currency and bond markets i think that leads to gold, and i think gold put in a double bottom

i'm with gold in the new year. i'd stay with it on the long side. >> still to come, believe it or not. we have a handful of significant earnings reports after the next week after the break, mike is outlining options strategies. for everything "options action" check out our website and news liter. that's much more "options action" right after this. >> announcer: grab your phone tweet us your questions at "options action. if it's nice we'll answer it on-air, when "options action" returns. "options action" sponsored by --

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with best-in-class education resources that match your preferred style of learning. learn your way. not theirs. td ameritrade. where smart investors get smarter℠. welcome back to "options action." we are taking a first look ahead to some big earnings reports to kick off the year. first up, walgreens. the pharmacy retailer just closed out its second worst year ever, but professor khou says a new year and thursday's earnings report could bring an opportunity for profit in this beaten down name mike, what are you looking at here >> we're looking at one of the dogs of the dow. walgreens is a constituent of it dow, and it underperformed this year, but they do have earnings coming up, and one of the reasons it might be worth taking a look at. the first is, this is company that did a good job as successfully managing it way through the pandemic it is as a fairly cheap valuation here as well, trading in the low double digits in

terms of price to earnings part of the reason for that, of course, is that there's is a bit of an overhang in the form of liability that some people expect some of these companies to be exposed to related to the opioid crisis. however, going into the market, predicting possibly 4% move is in line with its historical average move. i think the way to play this on a low-risk basis is take a loo at a calendar call spread. i was looking at january 8th, to purchase the april 40 strike calls and sell the january 40s against it the reason is those options premiums are slightly elevated, and this isn't one of those names that moves a real lot. i'm not expecting a sharp move to the upside, because they're not releasing any information about that liability overhang. >> brian, you like this trade in. >> yeah, i do, actually, and it's even an interesting trade

if you want to sort of lay into that spread that mike talked about, where you buy the back month april call to play to the upside, an if you see the stock drift higher you go ahead and sell that january upside call after the earnings play. hope that option goes out worthless. i do think there's some resistance in the stock on the upside. can it blow through 45 probably not likely. that's why mike is probably selling the jan call against the april to finance that april call as long as the stocks have been year top, shied away from it all year sort of moving ourselves from consumer discretionary, but maybe the market start rallying into the new year it's a stock that moves with it and the stock does well and moves to the up side. >> guy, your thoughts on the stock? >> upgraded a month ago, $54 price target they cited this things they just talked about some of that in the rearview

mirror. that coupled with the wild card that i think the market doesn't really -- i think they underestimate the genius of roz brewer, the ceo who came from starbucks. i think she's brilliant. if anybody can turn -- the stock has been awful, but 2023 could be a year where wba surprises people to the upside. >> mike, last word on this. >> yeah. i mean, this is one of those things. typically you want to play these sorts of dogs of the dow strategies when you have these down kinds of years. if we were on an up year, had a lot of stuff that was winning i'd try to stick with it, and actually one of the winners is one of the names we're going to talk about next anyway. >> let's get to it it's one of the require bright spots. we're talking about conagra. the name behind hunt's, slim jim, orville reddenbacher. good times should keep rolling in 2023. what are you going to do >> break out the popcorn for the

packaged foods business. even despite the big rally -- this thing outperformed the s&p by better than 30 for the year got an attractive dividend and trading at a reasonable multiple i don't think we're completely out of the woods, so value is an attractive place to be this is a recession resistant company. it's got better than 3% dividends. trading in those low double digits. we've seen that out performance, and you want to hang on to the things that are working, this one is working. the interesting thing from the trading perspective, this being an options show, this is the kind of company that i might often try to recommend something like a buy right buy right is when you buy to stock and sell upside calls against it two things i would mention about that, though they have earnings coming up i don't generally favor doing covered calls right before you have a catalyst that could propel the stock higher. second thing is when you have a high dividend, that discounts those upside calls somewhat relative to put. so you're going to collect a

lilt less premium. that's justified but something to be aware of and also you need to be aware of when the stock goes x dividend. if you own it, hold on to it if you don't, i think you can just buy the stock here. >> just buy the stock, says mike khouw on "options action." i like this because mike walked through all the reasons you might not want to do an options trade on this. brian do you agree >> playing options obviously is always my forte and sort of playing volatility, and with the vix where it's at and volatility, it's come down quite a bit. so anything where you're playing to the upside, i like owns calls, and that might be sort of a way to play that to the upside. you know, something like conagra in the consumer staples area, we played -- our hedge equity strategies so i still like that in terms of the stock. we haven't really turned the table yet in the s&p 500 to say, hey, i want to get more growthy. a couple things going for you.

one, conagra lines up for that, and, two, i like using options, because options are relatively cheap in most cases and instances in the indexes and individual equity right now. >> guy, do you like conagra? >> well, since you mentioned slim jims, i will say i've never had one. i will say there's a great scene in "trading places" with eddie murphy that talks about what beef jerky does to one of the participants i digress. i do like conagra. morgan stanley put a $45 price on it. i don't know if our crack staff at d.c. can do this at this late hour but it was february 2017 it topped out either we go blowing out this level or make the double top of all-time. i would submit you wait and see and trade it from there. >> i cannot believe you never had a slim jim i feel like you're one of a handful of people in the united states of america who never experienced a slim jim

>> how long have we known each other? long time. you know my constitution what do you think a slim jim or anything in that family of foods would do to me would wreck me. >> i'm not going to say this, because i'm sure people at home might be eating dinner so i don't want to talk about those things, but i thought before your constitutional problems you might have tried one. i guess not. >> i see good point. up next, featured trade. how to prepare for trading season first one of the new year. "options action" is back in just >> announcer: "options action" is sponsored by -- it's an entire trading experience. with innovation that lets you customize interfaces, charts and orders to your style of trading. personalized education to expand your perspective. and a dedicated trade desk of expert-level support. that will push you to be even better. and just might change how you trade—forever.

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good luck. td ameritrade, this is anna. hi anna, this position is all over the place, help!

hey professor, subscriptions are down but that's only an estimated 15% of their valuation. do you think the market is overreacting? how'd you know that? the company profile tool, in thinkorswim®. yes, i love you!! please ignore that. td ameritrade. award-winning customer service that has your back. welcome back to "options action." tonight's featured trade comes to us from brian sutland so what are you planning for the new year, bri? >> i'm looking at the financials a couple of we will be right backs we have big bangs reporting, j.p. morgan and bank of america and whatnot, but one thing we've done is, in this environment where the yield curve has been inverted for so long, big banks tend to lag. so we've shifted eithe into assurance as part of the financial waiting or a stock like berkshire hathaway. it's a stock i really like they tend to have a big portfolio. other than wells fargo, most of

their portfolio is playing the sort of inflationary environment, and it's a stock that's held up really well for this reason, and it really hung on to the $300 level here. with options priced like i talked about before, relatively cheap, i'm looking at the jan 3:10 call. it was trading 350 earlier stocks ran up into the close might be more expensive buck right around $5.50 that's a break even. not expensive. 1.7% premium compared to the rest of the stock. it's pretty cheap. i think the market is going to make a big move in the new year. we have had a lot of -- it's really getting ready to spring one way or the other. the berkshire hold on to the $300 level i think it's got room to run all the way up to 320, and the reason i'm using calls is i'm only risking the premium on the call. we break $300, the market goes

lower, berkshire probably goes with anything else, and that $300 is key level for the stock, and i only want to outlet a call premium rather than own a stock like this. so it seems like a pretty cheap play to the upside in a stock where that plays really well in an environment that's not so great for big banks, but i still need to own some kind of financials in my portfolio. >> guy, your thoughts on berkshire. >> it's friday, and i'm going digress again. it's interesting he said "come monday, " because that's a great song by jimmy buffett, who by the way is related to warren buffett. saw it in the spring. every time the stock is sold off to that magnitude it's been a tremendous opportunity to get long again, so i happen to like not only the south "come monday, " which is a nice little diddy, but brian's options trade here.

>> mike, your take on the trade? >> i think we have monday off, but we bought berkshire in late june in our fund, and i think we talked about it on this show in late october if i'm not mistaken it's up about 7% since then, and 7% is not enough for me to go from buyer to seller, so i'm with brian on this one i'd be long berkshire. >> brian is confused because he's already off he's in south florida enjoying the squid painting last word, brian, on this trade? >> yeah. tuesday's going to be the day when things happen and shake up again, obviously. berkshire to the upside. i still want to own financials in my portfolio. it's one we've continued to own and overweight nice one to play to the upside. up next, your tweets and the "final call. >> announcer: "options action" is sponsored by --

welcome back to "options action." time to take some calls. the first, stan asks - what is your biggest macro trend

to watch for 2023? what would that be for you >> wage inflation is what follows price inflation, and i think that's going to compress corporate earnings somewhat, but the good news is that at least it keeps the floor underneath real wages and maybe keeps us out of recession. >> brian, what would you say >> watch the lqds, hygs of the world. that's going to spell trouble. if they turn south, that's going to be very bad for the market. so heads up op that. otherwise clear to the upside. >> all right our next tweet here. do you think apple can come down to 100 where it starts to fill the gap. brian what do you think? >> well, we have some smart followers because yeah, there are some gaps to film 120 is the key level of support i was thinking if apple goes down there, maybe a 120 put spread i'd want to own but down at 100, you're talking 14 on apple.

that is super cheap. i own this for clients if it gets down there i certainly want to own it i'm not sure it will go down there, but if th market goes south it's going to fill in gaps very smart follower. >> here's another one. what is your suggested pla on tesla going into the first month of the year, especially those not adverse to going long in the stock mike what would that be? >> i'd probably be inclined to pay with calls, but they're pretty expensive so look to turn into spreads if they do that. >> all right guy, just quickly? >> a lot of smart people think it's got a lot lower to go that includes danny moses of the big short fame, so i'm in the danny moses camp. >> all right this is time for the final "final trade" of 2022. brian sutland, thanks for joining us tonight wham do you say? >> berkshire hathaway jan 3 call buy. >> guy, thank you as well for joining us what will be your "final trade"? >> i am happy for your are our

friendship, our continued hopeful success with "fast money" and "options action" and the entire team. >> mike khouw. conagra into earnings. happy new year. that does it for us here at "options action. happy new year happy, healthy don't go anywhere. cnbc special taking stock starts right now. - [announcer] the following is a paid presentation for power xl duo nutrisealer, sponsored by empower brands llc. do you hate throwing away food that's gone bad? moldy cheese, limp veggies, and freezer burn? does your pantry look like a bad disaster with all those clips and bands? what if you could keep your food as fresh as the day you bought it and vacuum seal any ingredient, dry, fresh, even liquid? introducing the power xl duo nutrisealer. it's so portable and powerful, it's a breakthrough in technology. now, you can savor the flavor and seal in the freshness.