EFX Collar Strategy
EFX (Equifax Inc.), in the Industrials sector, (Consulting Services industry), listed on NYSE.
Equifax Inc. provides information solutions and human resources business process automation outsourcing services for businesses, governments, and consumers. The company operates through three segments: Workforce Solutions, U.S. Information Solutions (USIS), and International. The Workforce Solutions segment offers employment, income, criminal history, and social security number verification services, as well as payroll-based transaction, employment tax management, and identity theft protection products. The USIS segment provides consumer and commercial information services, such as credit information and credit scoring, credit modeling and portfolio analytics, locate, fraud detection and prevention, identity verification, and other consulting; mortgage services; financial marketing services; identity management services; credit monitoring products; and online information, decisioning technology solutions, as well as portfolio management, mortgage reporting, and consumer credit information services. The International segment offers information service products, which include consumer and commercial services, such as credit and financial information, and credit scoring and modeling; and credit and other marketing products and services, as well as offers information, technology, and other services to support debt collections and recovery management.
EFX (Equifax Inc.) trades in the Industrials sector, specifically Consulting Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $19.29B, a trailing P/E of 27.47, a beta of 1.35 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 157.59-281.03, average daily share volume of 1.7M, a public-listing history dating back to 1980, approximately 15K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how EFX stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.35 indicates EFX has historically moved more than the broader market, amplifying both the directional payoff and the realized volatility relative to an index-equivalent position. EFX pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a collar on EFX?
A collar pairs long stock with a protective out-of-the-money put financed by a short out-of-the-money call, capping both tails of the position around the current spot.
Current EFX snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $157.91, ATM IV 39.90%, IV rank 56.83%, expected move 11.44%. The collar on EFX 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 collar structure on EFX specifically: IV regime affects collar pricing on both sides; mid-range EFX IV at 39.90% typically pushes the short call premium to roughly offset the long put cost, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 11.44% (roughly $18.06 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 EFX expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on EFX should anchor to the underlying notional of $157.91 per share and to the trader's directional view on EFX stock.
EFX collar setup
The EFX collar below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With EFX near $157.91, the first option leg uses a $165.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed EFX 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 EFX shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 100 shares | Stock | $157.91 | long |
| Sell 1 | Call | $165.00 | $4.65 |
| Buy 1 | Put | $150.00 | $4.45 |
EFX collar risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$15,771.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $729.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$771.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $157.71
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.946
Max profit roughly equals short-call strike minus cost basis plus net premium; max loss roughly equals cost basis minus long-put strike minus net premium. Breakeven shifts by the net premium.
EFX collar payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the collar on EFX. 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% | -$771.00 |
| $34.92 | -77.9% | -$771.00 |
| $69.84 | -55.8% | -$771.00 |
| $104.75 | -33.7% | -$771.00 |
| $139.66 | -11.6% | -$771.00 |
| $174.58 | +10.6% | +$729.00 |
| $209.49 | +32.7% | +$729.00 |
| $244.41 | +54.8% | +$729.00 |
| $279.32 | +76.9% | +$729.00 |
| $314.23 | +99.0% | +$729.00 |
When traders use collar on EFX
Collars on EFX hedge an existing long EFX stock position; the long put sets a floor while the short call finances it, often run as a near-zero-cost hedge during expected volatility windows.
EFX thesis for this collar
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for EFX extends from approximately $139.85 on the downside to $175.97 on the upside. A EFX collar hedges an existing long EFX position with a protective put while financing the put cost via a short call; when the premiums roughly offset, the collar acts as a near-zero-cost insurance band around the current spot. Current EFX IV rank near 56.83% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the collar thesis on EFX should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Industrials name, EFX options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to EFX-specific events.
EFX collar positions are structurally neutral (protective); 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. EFX positions also carry Industrials sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move EFX alongside the broader basket even when EFX-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current EFX chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a collar on EFX?
- A collar on EFX is the collar strategy applied to EFX (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral (protective): A collar pairs long stock with a protective out-of-the-money put financed by a short out-of-the-money call, capping both tails of the position around the current spot. With EFX stock trading near $157.91, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed EFX chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are EFX collar max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit roughly equals short-call strike minus cost basis plus net premium; max loss roughly equals cost basis minus long-put strike minus net premium. Breakeven shifts by the net premium. For the EFX collar priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 39.90%), the computed maximum profit is $729.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$771.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a EFX collar?
- The breakeven for the EFX collar priced on this page is roughly $157.71 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 EFX market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 11.44%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a collar on EFX?
- Collars on EFX hedge an existing long EFX stock position; the long put sets a floor while the short call finances it, often run as a near-zero-cost hedge during expected volatility windows.
- How does current EFX implied volatility affect this collar?
- EFX ATM IV is at 39.90% with IV rank near 56.83%, 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.