We hold a long-term position of 800 shares with an adjusted cost basis of 12.95 that yields a paper profit of more than $7000 at current prices.  Whenever this stock turns feisty, it reminds me what a juicy takeover candidate it would make. It’s hard to say whether it is rumors or reality driving SLW now, but I’m not so keen to do covered writes as I was before. My upside target is currently 25.54 (midpoint, now support = 21.27), and at this point I’m inclined to simply buy a few puts if and when the target is reached. _______ UPDATE (10:31 a.m. EDT):  The stock has hit 25.09 so far today on a powerful opening-bar gap, creating a pattern that projects to 25.35. Let’s put on a hedge when it gets near that price, shorting eight October 26 calls against our position.  Offer them for 0.96 — or whatever they will fetch with the stock trading within a nickel of the target.  (Note: As of 1:21 p.m., it looks as though the options will be trading for around 1.00.)  _______FURTHER UPDATE (2:14 P.M. EDT):  We shorted eight calls for 1.00 off a so-far intraday high of 1.01. Do nothing further for now, but please note that the stock could go as high as 25.54 on a targeted basis. The intraday high as of the moment is 25.32.