HCA Holdings (HCA) is on the highs today and big investors are getting behind it as well. The Nashville-based owner and operator of for-profit hospitals is up 20.6% YTD trading at $57.83. The stock has been performing well over the past year and the bullish trend looks to continue with HCA trading well above the cloud.

The healthcare services provider is looking to benefit from increased volume due to newly insured individuals from the Affordable Care Act. The company’s CFO said last week that they are open to the idea of expanding through M&A activity as well so that could be a reason for the recent spike in the stock. The option activity in the name is strong with traders agreeing with analyst consensus and getting long against small open interest with high volume.

Higher highs and lower lows recently suggest a continuing bull run so we will be keeping our eye on HCA. Let’s look at a trade.

The Trade:

Buy Jul 60 Call for $0.75

Risk: $75 per 1 lot

Reward: Unlimited

Breakeven on expiration: $60.75

The Greeks:

Delta: Long

Gamma: Long

Theta: Short

Vega: Long

PMC-Sierra Inc (PMCS) is a semiconductor manufacture based in Sunnyvale California. The stock is trading near highs today as big paper is moving into the name. Over the past year, the stock has been making higher highs and higher lows after a tougher winter season selloff. This, as any Ichimoku chartist would say, is indicative of a coming rally. Looking at the daily chart we can see that the stock just broke through long-term resistance to the upside and seems to be setting up for a trend reversal, which we can see from the forward looking cloud. Intraday, PMCS is trading well above the cloud on the five-minute bar. Look for the stock to gain some more momentum, as paper is aggressively long today buying over thirteen thousand (13,000) calls against menial open interest. Based on all this, we can expect PMCS to find new support around its 52-week high of $7.85 and improve on its already impressive 20%+ return. Let’s take a look at the trade:

Trade:

Buy November 9 calls for $0.25

Risk: $25 per lot

Reward: Unlimited

Breakeven on expiration: $9.25

Greeks:

Delta: Long

Gamma: Long

Theta: Short

Vega: Long

Wall street traders are allocating capital to Southern Company (SO), an electric utilities energy conglomerate based in Georgia. SO is up over a dollar today and trading fairly in the middle of its 52-week range of $40.03-$46.81. Even still, a lot of long calls are coming across the tape from Wall Street.

SO has been trading in a bearish pattern this week and broke to the upside on the open this morning. Institutional order flow has been refocusing on the electricity and utility sectors, which may indicate a possible merger in the space. This speculation is likely what broke the trend for SO and has many investors now holding long positions. Bullish signals are coming from the intraday chart with SO trading well above the cloud on the fifteen-minute bar, and testing resistance on the daily chart. If Southern continues to find buyers and break resistance to the upside in the coming days, it could potentially make new highs.

Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc (FCS) saw some bullish action today as the stock makes new highs. FCS opened today at $15.72 and hit its 52-week high of $16.12 this morning before pulling back to $15.86 where it stands now. Even this slight pullback could be seen as a buying opportunity as the new high was made on volume that has already eclipsed its average daily volume, suggesting the only way to go is up, which is a familiar direction for FCS as it has more than doubled the returns of the S&P YTD, up 18.22%.

Technically, FCS looks very strong. The stock broke through decidedly bearish resistance a couple weeks ago on news of a new product launch that tested well above industry competition and may have set a new standard for energy efficiency modules. After breaking through resistance to the upside, the stock continued its parabolic rally as investors piled on board and didn’t find sellers until today. The forward projection of the Ichimoku cloud is signaling a continued rally after this intraday pullback.

The Trade: Buying the FCS Aug 17 Calls for $.45

Risk: $45 per 1 lot

Targets: Sell 25% at $.55, Sell 25% at $.65, Sell 25% at $.80, Sell 25% at $1.00

Greeks of this Trade:

Delta: Long

Gamma: Long

Theta: Short

Vega: Long

Mcgraw Hill Financial, Inc (MHFI) is a financial intelligence and research firm that gets paid for ratings of S&P companies as well as general market research and for providing economic data. We have seen some bullish activity come across the tape in this name today. MHFI has tested new highs recently as it continues its yearlong bull run. It hit its 52-week low almost a year ago at $52.68 and spiked to $84.81 yesterday, representing its 52-week high.

This is a standard growth stock that has only had one major pullback below the cloud in the past year. This was relatively short and MHFI rallied back to where it is now, trading well above the cloud and up almost 8% YTD.

The intraday chart is sending slightly bearish signals, however we can expect the long term trend to continue so this may be a good buying opportunity as that is what we can see from the order flow coming across the tape today.

The Trade

Buy Jul 85 Calls for 1.30

Risk: $130 per 1 lot

Reward: Unlimited

Breakeven: $86.30

The Greeks

Delta: Long

Gamma: Long

Theta: Short

Vega: Long

Orbitz Worldwide, Inc. (OWW) is showing a long setup Friday morning, three days after its annual shareholders meeting that voted on new board members. That shouldn’t act as a huge catalyst for movement. However, we are seeing unusual option activity coming across the tape, as institutional investors are getting long.

Orbitz is a worldwide travel agency that is well known for its advertising campaigns and promises of low prices. Recently, they started an initiative called Orbitz Original which partners with local tourism agencies to showcase all that a given country has to offer with respect to tourism. Recent destinations have included Ireland and Puerto Rico. This is a great new marketing strategy that not only highlights what Orbitz can do to help its customers and all of the insight the company has, but it is also mutually beneficial as it allows countries to showcase their attractions and spur tourism through the online video series. Perhaps moves like this are why people are getting long the travel agency, which has performed almost a point and a half better than the rest of its industry, up 13.5% YTD.

The daily chart is signaling a possible reversal from its recent selloff as it has broken resistance and is trading inside the Ichimoku cloud and testing more upside resistance. Intraday, OWW is trading well above the cloud even with a relatively flat trading day. These are all bullish signals, so let’s look at a trade.

The Trade

Buy Nov 10 calls for .65

Risk: $65 per 1 lot

Reward: Unlimited

Breakeven: $10.65

The Greeks

Delta: Long

Gamma: Long

Theta: Short

Vega: Long