% If Assigned (Yield If Called Out)

This is the amount of profit we will receive at expiration if the buyer exercises his right to buy us out on the strike date. Remember that no matter how high the stock price is on the expiration day, the only price the buyer can pay for our shares is the strike price. In the case of a covered call, this return would include the premium from the sold option and any profit/loss on the covering stock position and assumes the stock price is higher than the strike price. This calculation is as follows, and does not include margin and is not annualized:

% if Assigned =	option premium + profit/loss on stock
	stock price - option premium

Note: There is another way to calculate % Assigned, which produces more conservative results. This calculation is as follows, and does not include margin and is not annualized:

% if Assigned =	option premium + profit/loss on stock
	stock price

For more information on the debate on which of the two methods commonly used to calculate yields, please click here.

% EPSG

Earnings per Share Growth is the percent change in earnings growth from last year to the estimate for the next year divided by the earnings from last year. In other words, it is the expected earnings growth from year-to-year. If you are looking for growth in a stock, it is important to have a strong year-to-year change in earnings. For example, WinningInvestments.com places stocks with 13% growth in a special category.

% If Not Assigned (Downside Protection)

This number is computed by taking the option premium and dividing it by the purchase price of the stock minus the option premium. The resulting number is the percentage the stock can decline from the purchase price before hitting its "break-even" point. This figure only comes into play if you are not called out. The calculation is as follows, and does not include margin and is not annualized:

% if Not Assigned =	option premium
	stock price - option premium

Note: Note: There is another way to calculate % Not Assigned, which produces more conservative results. This calculation is as follows, and does not include margin and is not annualized:

% if Not Assigned =	option premium
	stock price

For more information on the debate on which of the two methods commonly used to calculate yields, please click here.

% Option Volume

Is a statistical measure of the fluctuation of the underlying stock for the course of the past year.

% Range

This is the range between the year's high and low for the stock price. This tells us where the price is relative to the high and low over the last 52 weeks. Therefore, 60% would mean that today's price for the stock is in the top 60% of its price range for the last year. A value greater than 70% indicates high relative strength, while a value under 20% indicates weak relative strength.

% To Double

This is an iterated calculation much like the implied volatility. Derived like the Delta, it is the % change needed in the underlying stock price to cause the option to double. The Black/Scholes model is used for this calculated operation.

% Volume

The % change in volume is the % difference of today's stock volume from the 30-day average volume on the stock. It is a measure of any increase or decrease in volume over the last month's average. A popular opinion is that volume changes precede stock price changes. At the least, they give an indication of the strength in a movement up or down in the stock price. A move in either direction on higher volume than average is generally considered a move of strong conviction. While a move in either direction on lesser volume than the average is usually considered to have less significance. A reading of 125% means that the stock is trading with 25% more volume than it has over the past 30 days.

% Yield

This is the annual dividend yield on the underlying stock. Yields are usually found in the larger companies, and roughly 50% of the optionable stocks have a dividend. If you are only searching for stocks that contain yields, set the "Greater Than" field to 0.

12 Month High

This is the highest closing price for the stock over the last 12 months.

12 Month Low

This is the lowest closing price for the stock over the last 12 months.

Average Broker Rec.

This weekly average broker recommendation is provided by Zacks investment research, and updated every Monday. An average recommendation of 1 is a strong buy, 2 is a buy, 3 is a hold, 4 is a sell, and 5 is a strong sell. This filter uses the average value. A detailed look at the number of brokers recommending each rating can be seen by clicking the company name.

Beta

Beta is a measure of the sensitivity of a security's price to changes in the S&P 500. The Beta of the S&P 500 is 1, so a stock with a Beta of 1 could be expected to move with the S&P 500 average. Conversely, a stock with a Beta greater than 1 is more volatile than the market, while any stock with a Beta lower than 1 can be expected to rise and fall more slowly than the market.

Black Scholes Ratio

The Black-Scholes (BS) Model is a theoretical pricing model for options developed by Fischer Black and Myron Scholes It is based on 5 things: (1) the option strike price; (2) time to expiration; (3) underlying stock price; (4) current interest rates; and (5) the underlying stock volatility. By comparing an option's theoretical price (the BS Value) to its market price, you can assess whether the option might be overvalued or undervalued. The BS Ratio is the bid price divided by the BS value for that option. Therefore, a BS Ratio of 1.1 tells us that the option is overvalued by 10%. A BS Ratio of .6 tells us that the option is undervalued by 40%.

Call Symbol

See Option Symbol.

Company Name

Clicking the Company Name links you to our own Zacks Fundamentals page. Among other items provided, Zacks gives information on earnings, industry ranking and broker recommendations for that stock.

Covered Call

The selling of a call option while simultaneously holding an equivalent position in the underlying security.

Covered Put

The selling of a put option while being short an equivalent amount in the underlying security.

Delta

Delta is a measure of the sensitivity the option value has to changes in the stock share price. If the delta is .25 then a one point change in the stock price will change the option price by 1/4 point.

Expire/Strike Date

This is the date the option expires. It occurs on the third Friday of the particular month the option is for.

Implied Volatility

This is the volatility that is implied by the actual option price. Historical volatility is based on the price movement of the underlying stock, but implied volatility is back calculated from the actual option price. To calculate the implied volatility, the volatility value in the Black/Scholes pricing model is iterated until it produces an option value that equals the actual option bid price on the market. This calculation is only done once a day after the close of the market.

Naked Call

A short call option position, in which the writer either does not own the corresponding number of shares of the underlier, or does not have enough cash in his account equal to the exercise value of the call.

Naked Put

A short put option position, in which the writer either does not own the corresponding short position in the underlier, or does not have enough cash in his account equal to the exercise value of the put.

Naked Percent

This is the percent return if the option is sold and the stock is not owned or shorted. The math formula is Option Price / (Margin Requirement - Option Price).

Open Interest

Open interest represents the number of open contracts on the market over the life of the contract. It is used with volume to determine if there is enough activity in the option you want to trade. We usually look for the open interest to be 5 times our trading volume. Therefore, if you expect to trade 2 options set the value to 10 to assure yourself that there is somebody else in this market.

For more information on Open Interest, please click here.

Option Bid Price

This is the current amount that the buyer is willing to pay the seller for the option to buy the seller out at the strike price. If you are interested in selling a particular call, we recommend that you set a limit of the bid price, so that your sale will most likely be processed immediately. This amount is paid immediately, well before the buyer must decide whether or not to buy the seller out.

For more information on Bid prices, please click here.

Option Symbol

This is the symbol for the specific option. Each option has a unique symbol based on the stock, strike price and strike date.

Option Volume

The option volume represents the number of option contracts traded that day. Both volume and open interest below are used to assess option activity. As a general rule, heavy volume (more shares traded) is a stronger indicator than lighter volume, because it means that there is more activity than the stocks "average volume." Conversely, lighter volume means there is less activity than the stock's "average volume." A move on heavier volume is generally considered stronger than a move on lighter volume, because it has more conviction.

For more information on Option Volume, please click here.

P/E

The Price/Earnings ratio, or P/E ratio, as it is commonly called, is a measure of the stock's market capitalization divided by it's after tax earnings over a 12-month period. The ratio gives you an indication of how much you are paying for each dollar of the company's earnings. An easier way to calculate the ratio is by simply taking the current stock price and dividing by the earnings per share for the past 4 quarters (12 months).

However, some times do to unusual market conditions, it is more accurate to compute a "trailing" or "forward looking" P/E ratio. An example of a P/E ratio is if the company makes $10 a share per year, and the stock is trading at $100 a share, then the stock has a PE Ratio of 10 (100/10). This means that investors are paying $10 for every $1 of earnings.

For more information on P/E ratio, please click here.

Shares Outstanding

The number of shares outstanding is a reflection of the size of the company. Larger companies generally have more shares because of the many splits in their history, while smaller companies do not have as many. A large company will generally have more than 40 Million shares outstanding. This number presented is measured in millions of shares. One hundred (100) means 100 million shares are outstanding.

Stock Price

This links you to Yahoo's Finance News site, supplying you with a complete listing of recent news on each company. Yahoo Finance also provides other sources of information, which can be used to help guide your decisions.

Stock Symbol

This is the symbol the stock trades with on its given exchange. This symbol is unique to the stock.

Strike Price

This is the price that the buyer of the option can purchase the underlying stock from the seller of the option. The buyer can exercise this right any time between when he buys the option to the strike date. If the buyer declines to agree to this purchase on the strike date, the seller of the call continues to own the underlying stock.

Today's High

This is the highest trading price for the stock during the day's trading session. It does not have to be the closing price, it can occur at any point during the day.

Today's Low

This is the lowest trading price for the stock during the day's trading session. It does not have to be the closing price, it can occur at any point during the day.

Volatility

Is a statistical measure of the annual fluctuation of the underlying stock. The volatility is used in option pricing models to determine the fair value of an option. Generally, the bigger the volatility, the more an option is worth. This is because the greater the risk, the greater the reward. Remember, volatility is one of the factors considered in the Black-Scholes theoretical option pricing model.