DVA Straddle Strategy
DVA (DaVita Inc.), in the Healthcare sector, (Medical - Care Facilities industry), listed on NYSE.
DaVita Inc. provides kidney dialysis services for patients suffering from chronic kidney failure. The company operates kidney dialysis centers and provides related lab services in outpatient dialysis centers. It also provides outpatient, hospital inpatient, and home-based hemodialysis services; owns clinical laboratories that provide routine laboratory tests for dialysis and other physician-prescribed laboratory tests for ESRD patients; and management and administrative services to outpatient dialysis centers. In addition, the company provides disease management services to 16,000 patients in risk-based integrated care arrangements and 7,000 patients in other integrated care arrangements; vascular access services; clinical research programs; physician services; and comprehensive kidney care services. As of December 31, 2021, it provided dialysis and administrative services in the United States through a network of 2,815 outpatient dialysis centers serving approximately 203,100 patients; and operated 339 outpatient dialysis centers located in 10 countries outside of the United States serving approximately 39,900 patients. Further, the company provides acute inpatient dialysis services in approximately 850 hospitals and related laboratory services in the United States.
DVA (DaVita Inc.) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Medical - Care Facilities, with a market capitalization of approximately $12.72B, a trailing P/E of 17.08, a beta of 0.84 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 101-202.69, average daily share volume of 867K, a public-listing history dating back to 1995, approximately 76K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how DVA stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.84 places DVA roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline.
What is a straddle on DVA?
A long straddle buys an ATM call and an ATM put at the same strike, profiting from a large move in either direction; max loss equals the combined debit when the underlying pins to the strike at expiration.
Current DVA snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $199.45, ATM IV 30.10%, IV rank 10.93%, expected move 8.63%. The straddle on DVA 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 straddle structure on DVA specifically: DVA IV at 30.10% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a DVA straddle, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 8.63% (roughly $17.21 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 DVA expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on DVA should anchor to the underlying notional of $199.45 per share and to the trader's directional view on DVA stock.
DVA straddle setup
The DVA straddle below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With DVA near $199.45, the first option leg uses a $200.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed DVA 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 DVA shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $200.00 | $7.00 |
| Buy 1 | Put | $200.00 | $7.60 |
DVA straddle risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$1,460.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$1,414.28
- Breakeven(s)
- $185.40, $214.60
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- Unbounded
Upside max profit is unbounded; downside max profit is bounded at the strike minus the combined call plus put debit (reached at zero). Max loss equals the combined debit times 100 (reached when the underlying pins to the strike). Two breakevens at strike plus debit and strike minus debit.
DVA straddle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the straddle on DVA. 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% | +$18,539.00 |
| $44.11 | -77.9% | +$14,129.16 |
| $88.21 | -55.8% | +$9,719.32 |
| $132.31 | -33.7% | +$5,309.48 |
| $176.40 | -11.6% | +$899.64 |
| $220.50 | +10.6% | +$590.20 |
| $264.60 | +32.7% | +$5,000.04 |
| $308.70 | +54.8% | +$9,409.87 |
| $352.80 | +76.9% | +$13,819.71 |
| $396.90 | +99.0% | +$18,229.55 |
When traders use straddle on DVA
Straddles on DVA are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy DVA straddles ahead of earnings, FDA decisions, or other catalysts where the realized move is expected to exceed the implied move priced into the chain.
DVA thesis for this straddle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for DVA extends from approximately $182.24 on the downside to $216.66 on the upside. A DVA long straddle is a pure-volatility play: it profits when the underlying moves far enough from the strike in either direction to overcome the combined call plus put debit, regardless of direction. Current DVA IV rank near 10.93% sits in the lower third of its 1-year distribution, where IV often re-expands toward the mean; this favors premium-buying structures and disadvantages premium-selling structures on DVA at 30.10%. As a Healthcare name, DVA options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to DVA-specific events.
DVA straddle positions are structurally neutral / high-volatility (long premium); 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. DVA positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move DVA alongside the broader basket even when DVA-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current DVA chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a straddle on DVA?
- A straddle on DVA is the straddle strategy applied to DVA (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral / high-volatility (long premium): A long straddle buys an ATM call and an ATM put at the same strike, profiting from a large move in either direction; max loss equals the combined debit when the underlying pins to the strike at expiration. With DVA stock trading near $199.45, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed DVA chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are DVA straddle max profit and max loss calculated?
- Upside max profit is unbounded; downside max profit is bounded at the strike minus the combined call plus put debit (reached at zero). Max loss equals the combined debit times 100 (reached when the underlying pins to the strike). Two breakevens at strike plus debit and strike minus debit. For the DVA straddle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 30.10%), the computed maximum profit is unbounded per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$1,414.28 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a DVA straddle?
- The breakeven for the DVA straddle priced on this page is roughly $185.40 and $214.60 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 DVA market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 8.63%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a straddle on DVA?
- Straddles on DVA are pure-volatility plays that profit from large moves in either direction; traders typically buy DVA straddles ahead of earnings, FDA decisions, or other catalysts where the realized move is expected to exceed the implied move priced into the chain.
- How does current DVA implied volatility affect this straddle?
- DVA ATM IV is at 30.10% with IV rank near 10.93%, which is on the low end of its 1-year range. Premium-buying structures (long call, long put, debit spreads) are relatively cheap in this regime; premium-selling structures collect less credit per unit risk.