CBRL Covered Call Strategy
CBRL (Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc.), in the Consumer Cyclical sector, (Restaurants industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. develops and operates the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store concept in the United States. The company's Cracker Barrel stores consist of a restaurant with a gift shop. Its restaurants serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as dine-in, pick-up, and delivery services. The company's gift shops comprise various decorative and functional items, such as rocking chairs, seasonal gifts, apparel, toys, cookware, and various other gift items, as well as various candies, preserves, and other food items. As of September 15, 2021, it operated 664 Cracker Barrel stores in 45 states. The company was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Lebanon, Tennessee.
CBRL (Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc.) trades in the Consumer Cyclical sector, specifically Restaurants, with a market capitalization of approximately $647.1M, a beta of 1.28 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 24.85-71.93, average daily share volume of 1.1M, a public-listing history dating back to 1981, approximately 78K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how CBRL stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.28 places CBRL roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. CBRL pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a covered call on CBRL?
A covered call pairs long stock with a short out-of-the-money call, collecting premium and capping upside above the short strike in exchange for income.
Current CBRL snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $30.69, ATM IV 65.60%, IV rank 44.54%, expected move 18.81%. The covered call on CBRL 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 245-day expiry.
Why this covered call structure on CBRL specifically: CBRL IV at 65.60% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so the credit collected on a CBRL covered call sits in line with its long-run distribution, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 18.81% (roughly $5.77 on the underlying). The 245-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated CBRL expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on CBRL should anchor to the underlying notional of $30.69 per share and to the trader's directional view on CBRL stock.
CBRL covered call setup
The CBRL covered call below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With CBRL near $30.69, the first option leg uses a $32.50 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed CBRL chain at a 245-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 CBRL shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 100 shares | Stock | $30.69 | long |
| Sell 1 | Call | $32.50 | $5.25 |
CBRL covered call risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$2,544.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $706.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$2,543.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $25.44
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.278
Max profit equals short-strike minus cost basis plus premium times 100; max loss is cost basis minus premium (at zero). Breakeven is cost basis minus premium.
CBRL covered call payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the covered call on CBRL. 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% | -$2,543.00 |
| $6.79 | -77.9% | -$1,864.54 |
| $13.58 | -55.8% | -$1,186.08 |
| $20.36 | -33.6% | -$507.61 |
| $27.15 | -11.5% | +$170.85 |
| $33.93 | +10.6% | +$706.00 |
| $40.72 | +32.7% | +$706.00 |
| $47.50 | +54.8% | +$706.00 |
| $54.29 | +76.9% | +$706.00 |
| $61.07 | +99.0% | +$706.00 |
When traders use covered call on CBRL
Covered calls on CBRL are an income strategy run on existing CBRL stock positions; traders typically sell calls at 25-35 delta with 30-45 days to expiration to balance premium against upside cap.
CBRL thesis for this covered call
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for CBRL extends from approximately $24.92 on the downside to $36.46 on the upside. A CBRL covered call collects premium on an existing long CBRL position, trading off upside above the short call strike for immediate income; the short strike selection should reflect the trader's view on whether CBRL will breach that level within the expiration window. Current CBRL IV rank near 44.54% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the covered call thesis on CBRL should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Consumer Cyclical name, CBRL options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to CBRL-specific events.
CBRL covered call 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. CBRL positions also carry Consumer Cyclical sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move CBRL alongside the broader basket even when CBRL-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a covered call on CBRL carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical CBRL earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current CBRL chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a covered call on CBRL?
- A covered call on CBRL is the covered call strategy applied to CBRL (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral to slightly bullish: A covered call pairs long stock with a short out-of-the-money call, collecting premium and capping upside above the short strike in exchange for income. With CBRL stock trading near $30.69, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed CBRL chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are CBRL covered call max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit equals short-strike minus cost basis plus premium times 100; max loss is cost basis minus premium (at zero). Breakeven is cost basis minus premium. For the CBRL covered call priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 65.60%), the computed maximum profit is $706.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$2,543.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a CBRL covered call?
- The breakeven for the CBRL covered call priced on this page is roughly $25.44 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 CBRL market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 18.81%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a covered call on CBRL?
- Covered calls on CBRL are an income strategy run on existing CBRL stock positions; traders typically sell calls at 25-35 delta with 30-45 days to expiration to balance premium against upside cap.
- How does current CBRL implied volatility affect this covered call?
- CBRL ATM IV is at 65.60% with IV rank near 44.54%, which is mid-range against its 1-year history. Strategy selection depends more on directional thesis and expected move than on a strong IV signal.