With the new trading month officially underway, Goldman Sachs has a strategy that may generate huge returns. Given that September is a period between earnings seasons, the bank points to buying call options — a contract to purchase shares of a specific stock at a certain strike price until a set point in time — five days before a company’s analyst day and selling them a day after as a “profitable” strategy. Using this strategy, Goldman has found that it has, on average, led to an 18% return on premium over the past 20 years. This move generated profits each year within that period except for 2008 and 2022. “We see analyst day information content as significant as company managements take the opportunity to review recent performance, lay out strategic priorities, provide/update forward guidance, reveal long-term targets etc.,” the bank wrote in a Wednesday analyst note. “Despite the significance of analyst days, the options market tends to underprice volatility around analyst days.” This year, September marks a big month for analyst days, with Goldman identifying 17 such events. Of those, Intuit and Global Payments are both recommended as the strategy’s two key trades. The Intuit analyst day is Sept. 26, and Goldman thinks the event could be an opportunity for the company to give insight into its strategic initiatives. The bank notes that Intuit has a one-month implied volatility of 24, which is in the 31st percentile compared to the past year. Seeing the possibility for an uptick in volatility ahead of the event, Goldman thinks investors should buy the Oct. 4 weekly calls with a strike price of $630. Shares of the TurboTax owner are having a lackluster 2024, falling nearly 2%. However, over the past three months, the stock has jumped more than 7%. INTU 3M mountain Intuit, 3-month Investors should also consider buying calls ahead of the Global Payments analyst day on Sept. 24 , according to Goldman. The bank notes that it may be an opportunity for the payment technology company to give new long-term targets and provide a strategy refresh, among others. Global Payments has an implied volatility of 26, which is only in the 53rd percentile compared to the past year. As a result, Goldman thinks investors should buy Oct. 24 calls with a strike price of $110. Similar to Intuit, shares of Global Payments are also in the red this year but have moved higher in recent months. The stock has plummeted about 15% year to date, but it has surged nearly 11% over the past three months. GPN 1M mountain Global Payments, 1-month Goldman says it is also watching the analyst day for Moderna , which is set to take place Sept. 12 . Other companies with analyst days this month include Electronic Arts and CrowdStrike .
