HII Covered Call Strategy
HII (Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc.), in the Industrials sector, (Aerospace & Defense industry), listed on NYSE.
Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. engages in designing, building, overhauling, and repairing military ships in the United States. It operates through three segments: Ingalls Shipbuilding, Newport News Shipbuilding, and Technical Solutions. The company is involved in the design and construction of non-nuclear ships comprising amphibious assault ships; expeditionary warfare ships; surface combatants; and national security cutters for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard. It also provides nuclear-powered ships, such as aircraft carriers and submarines, as well as refueling and overhaul, and inactivation services of ships.
HII (Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc.) trades in the Industrials sector, specifically Aerospace & Defense, with a market capitalization of approximately $13.17B, a trailing P/E of 21.71, a beta of 0.29 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 215.05-460, average daily share volume of 520K, a public-listing history dating back to 2011, approximately 44K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how HII stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.29 indicates HII has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. HII pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a covered call on HII?
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 HII snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $326.16, ATM IV 34.20%, IV rank 30.07%, expected move 9.80%. The covered call on HII 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 HII specifically: HII IV at 34.20% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so the credit collected on a HII covered call sits in line with its long-run distribution, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 9.80% (roughly $31.98 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 HII expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on HII should anchor to the underlying notional of $326.16 per share and to the trader's directional view on HII stock.
HII covered call setup
The HII 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 HII near $326.16, the first option leg uses a $340.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed HII 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 HII shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 100 shares | Stock | $326.16 | long |
| Sell 1 | Call | $340.00 | $8.40 |
HII covered call risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$31,776.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $2,224.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$31,775.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $317.76
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.070
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.
HII covered call payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the covered call on HII. 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% | -$31,775.00 |
| $72.12 | -77.9% | -$24,563.53 |
| $144.24 | -55.8% | -$17,352.07 |
| $216.35 | -33.7% | -$10,140.60 |
| $288.47 | -11.6% | -$2,929.13 |
| $360.58 | +10.6% | +$2,224.00 |
| $432.70 | +32.7% | +$2,224.00 |
| $504.81 | +54.8% | +$2,224.00 |
| $576.93 | +76.9% | +$2,224.00 |
| $649.04 | +99.0% | +$2,224.00 |
When traders use covered call on HII
Covered calls on HII are an income strategy run on existing HII stock positions; traders typically sell calls at 25-35 delta with 30-45 days to expiration to balance premium against upside cap.
HII thesis for this covered call
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for HII extends from approximately $294.18 on the downside to $358.14 on the upside. A HII covered call collects premium on an existing long HII position, trading off upside above the short call strike for immediate income; the short strike selection should reflect the trader's view on whether HII will breach that level within the expiration window. Current HII IV rank near 30.07% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the covered call thesis on HII should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Industrials name, HII options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to HII-specific events.
HII 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. HII positions also carry Industrials sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move HII alongside the broader basket even when HII-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a covered call on HII carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical HII earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current HII chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a covered call on HII?
- A covered call on HII is the covered call strategy applied to HII (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 HII stock trading near $326.16, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed HII chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are HII 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 HII covered call priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 34.20%), the computed maximum profit is $2,224.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$31,775.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a HII covered call?
- The breakeven for the HII covered call priced on this page is roughly $317.76 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 HII market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 9.80%; 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 HII?
- Covered calls on HII are an income strategy run on existing HII 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 HII implied volatility affect this covered call?
- HII ATM IV is at 34.20% with IV rank near 30.07%, 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.