AGX Cash-Secured Put Strategy
AGX (Argan, Inc.), in the Industrials sector, (Engineering & Construction industry), listed on NYSE.
Argan, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, operations management, maintenance, project development, technical, and consulting services to the power generation and renewable energy markets. The company operates through Power Industry Services, Industrial Fabrication and Field Services, and Telecommunications Infrastructure Services segments. The Power Industry Services segment offers engineering, procurement, and construction contracting services to the owners of alternative energy facilities, such as biomass plants, wind farms, and solar fields; and design, construction, project management, start-up, and operation services for projects with approximately 15 gigawatts of power-generating capacity. This segment serves independent power project owners, public utilities, power plant equipment suppliers, and energy plant construction companies. The Industrial Fabrication and Field Services segment provides industrial field, and pipe and vessel fabrication services for forest products, industrial gas, fertilizer, and mining companies in southeast region of the United States. The Telecommunications Infrastructure Services segment offers trenchless directional boring and excavation for underground communication and power networks, as well as aerial cabling services; and installs buried cable, high and low voltage electric lines, and private area outdoor lighting systems.
AGX (Argan, Inc.) trades in the Industrials sector, specifically Engineering & Construction, with a market capitalization of approximately $10.05B, a trailing P/E of 72.61, a beta of 0.61 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 176.97-742.3, average daily share volume of 435K, a public-listing history dating back to 1995, approximately 2K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how AGX stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.61 indicates AGX has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. The trailing P/E of 72.61 is on the rich side, which tends to correlate with higher earnings-window IV expansion as the market debates whether forward growth supports the multiple. AGX pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a cash-secured put on AGX?
A cash-secured put sells an out-of-the-money put while holding cash equal to the strike-times-100 obligation, keeping the premium when the underlying stays above the strike.
Current AGX snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $715.78, ATM IV 86.50%, IV rank 72.42%, expected move 24.80%. The cash-secured put on AGX below is built from the same end-of-day chain, with strikes snapped to listed contracts and premiums pulled from the bid/ask midpoint at a 34-day expiry.
Why this cash-secured put structure on AGX specifically: AGX IV at 86.50% is rich versus its 1-year range, which favors premium-selling structures like a AGX cash-secured put, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 24.80% (roughly $177.50 on the underlying). The 34-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated AGX expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on AGX should anchor to the underlying notional of $715.78 per share and to the trader's directional view on AGX stock.
AGX cash-secured put setup
The AGX cash-secured put below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With AGX near $715.78, the first option leg uses a $680.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed AGX chain at a 34-day expiry; the cross-strike IV skew is reflected directly in the per-leg values rather than approximated. Quantity sizing assumes one contract per option leg (or 100 AGX shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $680.00 | $54.25 |
AGX cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$5,425.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $5,425.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$62,574.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $625.75
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.087
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
AGX cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on AGX. Each row is one sampled price point from the computed payoff curve; the full curve uses 200 price points internally before being summarized into 10 rows here.
| Underlying Price | % From Spot | P&L at Expiration |
|---|---|---|
| $0.01 | -100.0% | -$62,574.00 |
| $158.27 | -77.9% | -$46,747.82 |
| $316.53 | -55.8% | -$30,921.64 |
| $474.80 | -33.7% | -$15,095.46 |
| $633.06 | -11.6% | +$730.72 |
| $791.32 | +10.6% | +$5,425.00 |
| $949.58 | +32.7% | +$5,425.00 |
| $1,107.84 | +54.8% | +$5,425.00 |
| $1,266.10 | +76.9% | +$5,425.00 |
| $1,424.37 | +99.0% | +$5,425.00 |
When traders use cash-secured put on AGX
Cash-secured puts on AGX earn premium while a trader waits to acquire AGX stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning AGX.
AGX thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for AGX extends from approximately $538.28 on the downside to $893.28 on the upside. A AGX cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire AGX at the strike price; the strategy is most attractive when the trader is comfortable holding the underlying at that level and IV is rich enough to compensate for the assignment risk. Current AGX IV rank near 72.42% sits in the upper third of its 1-year distribution, which historically reverts; this raises the bar for premium-buying structures and lowers it for premium-selling structures on AGX at 86.50%. As a Industrials name, AGX options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to AGX-specific events.
AGX cash-secured put positions are structurally neutral to slightly bullish; the modeled P&L assumes European-style exercise at expiration and ignores early assignment, transaction costs, dividends paid before expiry on the stock leg (when present), and the bid-ask spread on the listed chain. AGX positions also carry Industrials sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move AGX alongside the broader basket even when AGX-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on AGX carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical AGX earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current AGX chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on AGX?
- A cash-secured put on AGX is the cash-secured put strategy applied to AGX (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral to slightly bullish: A cash-secured put sells an out-of-the-money put while holding cash equal to the strike-times-100 obligation, keeping the premium when the underlying stays above the strike. With AGX stock trading near $715.78, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed AGX chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are AGX cash-secured put max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium. For the AGX cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 86.50%), the computed maximum profit is $5,425.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$62,574.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a AGX cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the AGX cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $625.75 at expiration, derived from end-of-day chain premiums. Breakeven is the underlying price at which the strategy's P&L crosses zero ignoring transaction costs and assignment risk. The current AGX market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 24.80%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a cash-secured put on AGX?
- Cash-secured puts on AGX earn premium while a trader waits to acquire AGX stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning AGX.
- How does current AGX implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- AGX ATM IV is at 86.50% with IV rank near 72.42%, which is elevated relative to its 1-year range. Premium-selling structures (covered call, cash-secured put, iron condor) generally look more attractive when IV rank is high; premium-buying structures (long call, long put, debit spreads) are more expensive in that regime.