Dykstra: Reveling in Holiday Gifts

I trust that Thanksgiving provided everyone an opportunity to enjoy quality time with family and friends. Undoubtedly, many of you continued to enjoy the Thanksgiving leftovers through the weekend, and since I suggested they were early Thanksgiving treats last Monday, here is a review of my picks from last week.

• Frontier Oil (FTO Quote): Monday morning the stock opened at $34.50. Friday afternoon, the stock closed at $37.07. This represents about an 8% gain in just one week.

• Dell (DELL Quote): I suggested buying this stock Monday morning as well, and it opened at $29.98. The stock closed Friday at $30.33. This represents approximately a 1.5% gain in one short week.

Going back two weeks now, I'd strongly encourage anyone long the Symantec(SYMC Quote) April 15 calls to add to the position. This option closed at $3.40 Friday, which, in my opinion, is a gift.

Let me explain: If you bought 10 of these calls for $3.40 on Nov. 25, with the expiration date being Friday, April 21, you enabled yourself to control 1,000 shares of Symantec stock at the price of $18.40 (the strike price of $15 plus the option premium of $3.40). Bottom line: For $3,400, you are now in control of 1,000 shares of Symantec until April 21, as opposed to spending $17,640 for an equivalent position in the common stock. What's more, this opportunity comes in a company with a forward P/E ratio of 15.24, $4.43 billion in cash, and $842.7 million in free cash flow. All I can say is, "Lock and load!" ...