Dykstra: Calling In Some AT&T Options

Last Friday, Microsoft(MSFT Quote) and General Electric(GE Quote) became the latest companies to land in the deep-in-the-money call portfolio's win column.

Microsoft jumped $1.02 to $30.12 Friday and was the top Dow performer after reporting strong sales of its new Windows Vista operating system and Office 2007 software suite Thursday. Meanwhile, General Electric rose $1 to $36.84 after a Citigroup analyst said the conglomerate could boost its shares by selling its entertainment, real estate and financial businesses.

Also last week, investors seem confused by the release of first-quarter economic data, which revealed slowing economic growth. The economy's growth was below economists' expectations and down sharply from 2.5% in the previous quarter, and the market faces a potentially difficult week ahead.

As always, it's important to seek out investments that perform best in present market conditions. It's not often that I buy deep-in-the-money (DITM) calls on a stock that is within a couple points of its 52-week high, but today I will, because AT&T(T Quote) is a firmly established company that boasts solid growth, and it offers investors the best of both worlds: rapid appreciation in a bullish market, stability in a shaky one. ...