Levi's Performance and Context
Levi Strauss has outperformed the S&P and handily beaten the consumer discretionary sector, up 26.3% against the sector's 7.9%. Stacked against other apparel names, though, it sits mid-pack, outpaced by VF Corp, Ralph Lauren, and American Eagle. Apparel has been a hard industry lately, highly sensitive to the trade war and any tariff dispute.
The Chart
The stock recently hit fresh 52-week highs, with 25.58 as the high water mark. Backtracking, 24.80 stands out as a prior high that price has not closed strongly above. The gap has filled for now, but price remains just below that benchmark heading into earnings.
The recent trajectory forms a rising wedge: one boundary across the lows, one across the highs, both sloping up and converging. That pattern usually reads as bearish, but with earnings imminent I would not weight it heavily here.
To the downside, watch the recent lows near 24, 23, and 22.4. On moving averages, the weekly EMA (dark blue) comes in at 24.56, and the 21-day EMA sits just shy of 24, which becomes relevant if the trend line breaks. RSI is trending lower with a very modestly upward-sloping line along its lows; momentum often cools into earnings, so little should be read into that.
The volume profile shows a node between roughly 24 and 24.75. Break much below that and trading stays thin until 22.50 to 21. The point of control, the heaviest traded area, sits at 21.29.
The Example Trade
This is not the most active symbol. There are no weekly options, mostly quarterly ones going forward, so this is framed as a longer-term trade using the October expiration. The options market implies a move of roughly plus or minus 19% by then.
The structure: buy one October 16 $25 call and sell one October 16 $23 cash-secured put, done together for a 70-cent net debit. That gives long exposure at a significantly reduced cost, with the flat area of the payoff representing the 70-cent cost of the trade.
If price falls below 23, assignment on the put is possible, which fits the goal of accumulating shares. To the upside, max profit is potentially unlimited. Break-even is 25.70, about 4.2% higher, while the short put strike sits 6.7% to the downside. Both outcomes fall well within the expected move of plus or minus 19%. Earnings are due after the bell.
