KNF Cash-Secured Put Strategy
KNF (Knife River Corporation), in the Basic Materials sector, (Construction Materials industry), listed on NYSE.
Knife River Corporation is a U.S.-based entity focused on supplying aggregate-derived building materials and offering related contracting services. Its business activities are structured across six distinct operational segments: Pacific, Northwest, Mountain, North Central, South, and Energy Services. The company is involved in extracting, processing, and distributing crucial construction aggregates, including varieties of crushed stone, sand, and gravel. Additionally, it produces and sells both asphalt and ready-mix concrete. To support these core product lines, Knife River also performs various contracting tasks, such as heavy-civil construction, paving with asphalt and concrete, and comprehensive site development and grading work. Its primary clients are governmental bodies at the federal, state, and municipal levels, for whom it undertakes a wide range of public infrastructure initiatives.
KNF (Knife River Corporation) trades in the Basic Materials sector, specifically Construction Materials, with a market capitalization of approximately $5.28B, a trailing P/E of 35.97, a beta of 0.53 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 58.72-96.28, average daily share volume of 568K, a public-listing history dating back to 2023, approximately 5K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how KNF stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.53 indicates KNF 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 35.97 is on the rich side, which tends to correlate with higher earnings-window IV expansion as the market debates whether forward growth supports the multiple.
What is a cash-secured put on KNF?
A cash-secured put sells an out-of-the-money put while holding cash equal to the strike-times-100 obligation, keeping the premium when the underlying stays above the strike.
Current KNF snapshot
As of June 30, 2026, spot at $83.45, ATM IV 51.60%, IV rank 48.73%, expected move 14.79%. The cash-secured put on KNF 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 52-day expiry.
Why this cash-secured put structure on KNF specifically: KNF IV at 51.60% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so the credit collected on a KNF cash-secured put sits in line with its long-run distribution, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 14.79% (roughly $12.35 on the underlying). The 52-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated KNF expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on KNF should anchor to the underlying notional of $83.45 per share and to the trader's directional view on KNF stock.
KNF cash-secured put setup
The KNF cash-secured put below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With KNF near $83.45, the first option leg uses a $80.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed KNF chain at a 52-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 KNF shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $80.00 | $4.65 |
KNF cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$465.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $465.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$7,534.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $75.35
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.062
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
KNF cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on KNF. 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% | -$7,534.00 |
| $18.46 | -77.9% | -$5,688.98 |
| $36.91 | -55.8% | -$3,843.97 |
| $55.36 | -33.7% | -$1,998.95 |
| $73.81 | -11.6% | -$153.94 |
| $92.26 | +10.6% | +$465.00 |
| $110.71 | +32.7% | +$465.00 |
| $129.16 | +54.8% | +$465.00 |
| $147.61 | +76.9% | +$465.00 |
| $166.06 | +99.0% | +$465.00 |
When traders use cash-secured put on KNF
Cash-secured puts on KNF earn premium while a trader waits to acquire KNF stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning KNF.
KNF thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for KNF extends from approximately $71.10 on the downside to $95.80 on the upside. A KNF cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire KNF at the strike price; the strategy is most attractive when the trader is comfortable holding the underlying at that level and IV is rich enough to compensate for the assignment risk. Current KNF IV rank near 48.73% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the cash-secured put thesis on KNF should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Basic Materials name, KNF options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to KNF-specific events.
KNF cash-secured put 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. KNF positions also carry Basic Materials sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move KNF alongside the broader basket even when KNF-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on KNF carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical KNF earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current KNF chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on KNF?
- A cash-secured put on KNF is the cash-secured put strategy applied to KNF (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral to slightly bullish: A cash-secured put sells an out-of-the-money put while holding cash equal to the strike-times-100 obligation, keeping the premium when the underlying stays above the strike. With KNF stock trading near $83.45, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed KNF chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are KNF cash-secured put max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium. For the KNF cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 51.60%), the computed maximum profit is $465.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$7,534.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a KNF cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the KNF cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $75.35 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 KNF market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 14.79%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a cash-secured put on KNF?
- Cash-secured puts on KNF earn premium while a trader waits to acquire KNF stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning KNF.
- How does current KNF implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- KNF ATM IV is at 51.60% with IV rank near 48.73%, 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.