Commit To Purchase Vivus At $8, Earn 17.1%

Investors considering a purchase of Vivus, Inc. (NASD: VVUS) shares, but cautious about paying the going market price of $12.25/share, might benefit from considering selling puts among the alternative strategies at their disposal. One interesting put contract in particular, is the January 2015 put at the $8 strike, which has a bid at the time of this writing of $1.37. Collecting that bid as the premium represents a 17.1% return against the $8 commitment, or a 12.3% annualized rate of return (at ...