CATO - The Cato Corporation
The Cato Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty retailer of fashion apparel and accessories primarily in the southeastern United States. It operates through two segments, Retail and Credit. The company's stores and e-commerce websites offer a range of apparel and accessories, including dressy, career, and casual sportswear; and dresses, coats, shoes, lingerie, costume jewelry, and handbags, as well as men's wear, and lines for kids and infants.
As of May 15, 2026: spot at $2.94, ATM IV 48.0%, max pain $2.50, net GEX $12.3K.
- Sector
- Consumer Cyclical
- Industry
- Apparel - Retail
- Market Cap
- $51.9M
- Beta
- 0.56
- 52-Week Range
- 2.41-4.92
- Dividend Yield
- $0.17
- CEO
- John Derham Cato
- Employees
- 7,000
- IPO Date
- Apr 22, 1987
- Exchange
- NYSE
What CATO Looks Like to Options Traders Today
IV rank of 4.5% is subdued relative to the 1-year history, conditions that typically favor premium-buying or long-volatility structures (debit spreads, calendar spreads, long straddles); positive net gamma exposure ($12.3K) means dealers hedge against trend, damping realized volatility and biasing price toward heavy-OI strikes.
What This Page Covers
The CATO overview links into per-metric analysis views: max pain, gamma exposure, volatility skew, expected move, options chain, open interest history, and aggregate Greeks. Microstructure data is available on short interest, short volume, fail-to-deliver, and market structure. Corporate data is on fundamentals, earnings, analyst ratings, and insider trading.
Frequently asked CATO overview questions
- What is CATO?
- CATO is the ticker symbol for The Cato Corporation, a listed security. The Cato Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty retailer of fashion apparel and accessories primarily in the southeastern United States. It operates through two segments, Retail and Credit. Listed on NYSE. CATO is the equity ticker shown on this page; equity options traders use the security for directional, volatility, and income strategies via the listed options chain.
- What does the CATO options snapshot look like today?
- As of May 15, 2026, the CATO options snapshot shows spot at $2.94, ATM IV 48.0%, IV rank 4.5%, max pain $2.50, net GEX $12.3K, expected move 13.76%. The full options chain, Greeks by strike and expiration, per-strike open-interest distribution, dealer gamma and delta exposure, and the volatility skew surface are linked from this overview page. Each per-metric route refreshes once per trading session and reflects the most recent close-of-business listed-options state.
- What are CATO's key statistics?
- The Cato Corporation (CATO) carries a market capitalization of $51.9M, beta of 0.56 relative to the broader market, 52-week range of 2.41-4.92. Full income statement, balance sheet, cash flow, and TTM ratio history is on the per-ticker fundamentals page; daily price history and 52-week levels are accessible from the same view. These structural inputs frame how the options market prices implied volatility around earnings windows and capital events.
- What sector or industry does CATO belong to?
- The Cato Corporation operates in the Consumer Cyclical sector, in the Apparel - Retail industry. Sector classification affects how the ticker correlates with sector ETFs, how it reacts to macro factors like rate moves and commodity prices, and how its options pricing compares to sector peers. Compare CATO's implied volatility and skew against sector benchmarks to gauge whether the options market is pricing single-name or systemic risk relative to the broader peer group.
- How current is the CATO data on this page?
- The options snapshot above is dated May 15, 2026 and refreshes once per session, with all per-strike Greeks and exposure aggregates recomputed at the daily close. Company-profile fields (sector, industry, market cap, P/E, IPO date) refresh from the vendor feed nightly. Financials and earnings refresh as 10-K and 10-Q filings are parsed (typically within several business days of the actual report). FINRA microstructure data refreshes on the source's cadence (daily for short volume, bi-monthly for short interest, weekly for the OTC volume file, twice-monthly for SEC FTD).