Google (GOOG) reports earnings on Thursday, April 12, 2012, after the market close. There are many ways to play earnings. Some people would bet on the direction of the stock movement after the announcement and buy or short the stock. Others will buy call or put options. My opinion is that predicting the market reaction to earnings is an extremely difficult task.
There is no doubt that Apple (AAPL) had a remarkable run in the last three months. It reached another all time high Thursday at $633. Some people would argue that it's gone up too far too fast. Others say this is only the beginning, based on the fact that the stock is still cheap. Maybe you fall somewhere in between.
I'm asked many times how we choose between Long Straddle, Long Strangle or Reverse Iron Condor (RIC) for our pre-earnings plays. It's always a balance between risk/reward. All of them benefit from IV jump (vega) and/or price movement (gamma). The biggest (and basically the only) enemy is the negative theta.
