FNLC Covered Call Strategy
FNLC (The First Bancorp, Inc.), in the Financial Services sector, (Banks - Regional industry), listed on NASDAQ.
The First Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for First National Bank that provides a range of banking products and services to individuals and businesses. It offers various deposit products, including demand, NOW, savings, money market, and certificates of deposit accounts. The company also provides commercial real estate loan products, such as mortgage loans to finance investments in real property comprising multi-family residential, commercial/retail, office, industrial, hotel, educational, and other specific or mixed use properties; commercial construction loans to finance construction of owner- and non-owner occupied commercial real estate properties; and other commercial loans, which include revolving and term loan obligations to business and corporate enterprises for the purpose of financing working capital or capital investment. In addition, it offers municipal loans for capitalized expenditures, construction projects, or tax-anticipation notes; residential term loans that include amortizing home mortgages and construction loans, which include loans for owner-occupied residential construction; home equity loans and lines of credit; and consumer loans, which are amortizing loans to individuals collateralized by automobiles, pleasure crafts, and recreation vehicles, as well as unsecured short-term time notes. Further, the company provides private banking, financial planning, investment management, and trust services to individuals, businesses, non-profit organizations, and municipalities, as well as payment processing services. It operates through 18 full-service banking offices in Lincoln, Knox, Waldo, Penobscot, Hancock, and Washington counties in the Mid-Coast, Eastern, and Down East regions of Maine.
FNLC (The First Bancorp, Inc.) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Banks - Regional, with a market capitalization of approximately $317.0M, a trailing P/E of 8.60, a beta of 0.50 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 23.36-30.33, average daily share volume of 18K, a public-listing history dating back to 1999, approximately 284 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how FNLC stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.50 indicates FNLC 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 8.60 is on the value side, where IV often compresses outside event windows because forward growth expectations are already discounted into the share price. FNLC pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a covered call on FNLC?
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 FNLC snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $27.74, ATM IV 70.70%, IV rank 23.99%, expected move 20.27%. The covered call on FNLC 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 covered call structure on FNLC specifically: FNLC IV at 70.70% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which means a premium-selling FNLC covered call collects less credit per unit of strike-width risk, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 20.27% (roughly $5.62 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 FNLC expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on FNLC should anchor to the underlying notional of $27.74 per share and to the trader's directional view on FNLC stock.
FNLC covered call setup
The FNLC 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 FNLC near $27.74, the first option leg uses a $29.13 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed FNLC 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 FNLC shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 100 shares | Stock | $27.74 | long |
| Sell 1 | Call | $29.13 | N/A |
FNLC covered call risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- N/A
- Max Profit (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Max Loss (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Breakeven(s)
- None on modeled curve
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- N/A
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.
FNLC covered call payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the covered call on FNLC. 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.
When traders use covered call on FNLC
Covered calls on FNLC are an income strategy run on existing FNLC stock positions; traders typically sell calls at 25-35 delta with 30-45 days to expiration to balance premium against upside cap.
FNLC thesis for this covered call
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for FNLC extends from approximately $22.12 on the downside to $33.36 on the upside. A FNLC covered call collects premium on an existing long FNLC position, trading off upside above the short call strike for immediate income; the short strike selection should reflect the trader's view on whether FNLC will breach that level within the expiration window. Current FNLC IV rank near 23.99% 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 FNLC at 70.70%. As a Financial Services name, FNLC options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to FNLC-specific events.
FNLC 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. FNLC positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move FNLC alongside the broader basket even when FNLC-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a covered call on FNLC carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical FNLC earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current FNLC chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a covered call on FNLC?
- A covered call on FNLC is the covered call strategy applied to FNLC (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 FNLC stock trading near $27.74, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed FNLC chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are FNLC 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 FNLC covered call priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 70.70%), the computed maximum profit is unbounded per contract and the computed maximum loss is unbounded per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a FNLC covered call?
- The breakeven for the FNLC covered call priced on this page is no defined breakeven on the modeled curve 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 FNLC market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 20.27%; 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 FNLC?
- Covered calls on FNLC are an income strategy run on existing FNLC 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 FNLC implied volatility affect this covered call?
- FNLC ATM IV is at 70.70% with IV rank near 23.99%, 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.