I was shopping this past week and had the occasion to go to Home Depot and Lowe's, whcih happened to be basically across the street from each other. The contrast was startling. HD was dark, grim looking, kind of like KMart. Inventory seemed to lying around in disorder, no help around. When I went to checkout, I saw they had eliminated most of the human cashiers in favor of self-checkout aisles. Customers seemed confused, one of the checkouts didn't seem to be working properly as I saw a woman stuck there for 5 minutes. A bored customer service employee was lounging at his stand and didn't seem inclined to want to help her. The one human cashier had a lengthy line. I abandoned my cart and went to Lowe's.
The difference was immediately apparent. The parking lot was full on a weekday afternoon. The store was bright and bustling, the employees seemed energetic. No self-checkout aisles. Very different shopping experience.
Based on this admittedly unscientific experience, I'd like to put on a pairs trade, long LOW, short HD, but using options. Both report in May. My first thought was to put on bull and bear spreads, roughly delta neutral. HD has May and Aug expirations, but I think the May's expire before they report. LOW has Jul and Oct.
Any suggestions for structuring this trade?
The difference was immediately apparent. The parking lot was full on a weekday afternoon. The store was bright and bustling, the employees seemed energetic. No self-checkout aisles. Very different shopping experience.
Based on this admittedly unscientific experience, I'd like to put on a pairs trade, long LOW, short HD, but using options. Both report in May. My first thought was to put on bull and bear spreads, roughly delta neutral. HD has May and Aug expirations, but I think the May's expire before they report. LOW has Jul and Oct.
Any suggestions for structuring this trade?