Ann: Westpac announces $3.5 billion off-market share buy-back, page-688

Don't you love it? I sold north of 70 puts on WBC and now reaping the reward as they slowly going OTM. This is a lot more effective than sinking over 70K into buying physical stock. The fact that WBC is stronger than ANZ and NAB today shows that buyers now know where the value is. It is in the well-beaten targets of the shorts. A lot of the shorts are still to cover their positions. So, the buyback might be quite plumb after all. Those who bought under 22 might reap a lot from the buyback just offering a 0% discount or else just sell on the market. Take it or leave it! Westpac can take it or just buy them on the market for an even higher price. The fact that Westpac change the date of the buyback but keep the date for eligibility the same is so good for those who suffered the big drop and were willing to sink more money in. This suggests we can now just set the discount to 0% and will be able to sell back to Westpac and reap the franking + nominal loss for CGT purposes. If the shorts have to cover and bring WBC back to 23+ by the date of the buyback, it would be very sweet.

I watched Bank of America going up so strongly last Friday. There is still room for the big 4 banks here to go up and Westpac, the well-beaten down, has the most room to move up by the time the others have hit resistance. I reckon it is still good for people to enter now.