LAZ Bear Put Spread Strategy

LAZ (Lazard Ltd), in the Financial Services sector, (Financial - Capital Markets industry), listed on NYSE.

Lazard Ltd, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a financial advisory and asset management firm in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Central and South America. It operates in two segments, Financial Advisory and Asset Management. The Financial Advisory segment offers various financial advisory services regarding mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, capital advisory, shareholder advisory, capital raising, sovereign advisory, and other strategic advisory matters. This segment serves corporate, partnership, institutional, government, sovereign, and individual clients across various industry areas, including consumers, financial institutions, healthcare and life sciences, industrials, power and energy/infrastructure, and real estate, as well as technology, telecommunication, and media and entertainment. The Asset Management segment offers a range of investment solutions, and investment and wealth management services in equity and fixed income strategies; asset allocation strategies; and alternative investments and private equity funds to corporations, public funds, sovereign entities, endowments and foundations, labor funds, financial intermediaries, and private clients. The company was founded in 1848 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda.

LAZ (Lazard Ltd) trades in the Financial Services sector, specifically Financial - Capital Markets, with a market capitalization of approximately $4.45B, a trailing P/E of 16.23, a beta of 1.43 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 38.67-58.75, average daily share volume of 1.5M, a public-listing history dating back to 2005, approximately 3K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how LAZ stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.

A beta of 1.43 indicates LAZ has historically moved more than the broader market, amplifying both the directional payoff and the realized volatility relative to an index-equivalent position. LAZ pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.

What is a bear put spread on LAZ?

A bear put spread buys an at-the-money put and sells an out-of-the-money put at a lower strike for defined risk and defined reward bounded by the strike width.

Current LAZ snapshot

As of May 12, 2026, spot at $46.06, ATM IV 47.50%, IV rank 68.10%, expected move 13.62%. The bear put spread on LAZ 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 63-day expiry.

Why this bear put spread structure on LAZ specifically: LAZ IV at 47.50% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so strategy selection should anchor more to the directional thesis than to the IV regime, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 13.62% (roughly $6.27 on the underlying). The 63-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated LAZ expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on LAZ should anchor to the underlying notional of $46.06 per share and to the trader's directional view on LAZ stock.

LAZ bear put spread setup

The LAZ bear put spread below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With LAZ near $46.06, the first option leg uses a $46.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed LAZ chain at a 63-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 LAZ shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).

ActionTypeStrike / BasisPremium (est)
Buy 1Put$46.00$3.60
Sell 1Put$44.00$2.68

LAZ bear put spread risk and reward

Net Premium / Debit
-$92.50
Max Profit (per contract)
$107.50
Max Loss (per contract)
-$92.50
Breakeven(s)
$45.08
Risk / Reward Ratio
1.162

Max profit equals strike width minus net debit times 100; max loss equals net debit times 100. Breakeven is long-put strike minus net debit.

LAZ bear put spread payoff curve

Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the bear put spread on LAZ. 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 SpotP&L at Expiration
$0.01-100.0%+$107.50
$10.19-77.9%+$107.50
$20.38-55.8%+$107.50
$30.56-33.7%+$107.50
$40.74-11.5%+$107.50
$50.93+10.6%-$92.50
$61.11+32.7%-$92.50
$71.29+54.8%-$92.50
$81.47+76.9%-$92.50
$91.66+99.0%-$92.50

When traders use bear put spread on LAZ

Bear put spreads on LAZ reduce the cost of a bearish LAZ stock position by selling a lower-strike put; suited to moderate-decline theses where price reaches but does not vastly exceed the short strike.

LAZ thesis for this bear put spread

The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for LAZ extends from approximately $39.79 on the downside to $52.33 on the upside. A LAZ bear put spread caps both the risk and the reward of a bearish position; relative to an outright long put on LAZ, the spread reduces the cost basis but limits the maximum profit to the strike width minus net debit. Current LAZ IV rank near 68.10% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the bear put spread thesis on LAZ should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Financial Services name, LAZ options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to LAZ-specific events.

LAZ bear put spread positions are structurally moderately bearish; 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. LAZ positions also carry Financial Services sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move LAZ alongside the broader basket even when LAZ-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Long-premium structures like a bear put spread on LAZ are particularly exposed to IV-crush risk through scheduled events (earnings, FDA decisions, central-bank meetings) where IV typically contracts post-event regardless of the directional outcome. Always rebuild the position from current LAZ chain quotes before placing a trade.

Frequently asked questions

What is a bear put spread on LAZ?
A bear put spread on LAZ is the bear put spread strategy applied to LAZ (stock). The strategy is structurally moderately bearish: A bear put spread buys an at-the-money put and sells an out-of-the-money put at a lower strike for defined risk and defined reward bounded by the strike width. With LAZ stock trading near $46.06, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed LAZ chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
How are LAZ bear put spread max profit and max loss calculated?
Max profit equals strike width minus net debit times 100; max loss equals net debit times 100. Breakeven is long-put strike minus net debit. For the LAZ bear put spread priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 47.50%), the computed maximum profit is $107.50 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$92.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
What is the breakeven for a LAZ bear put spread?
The breakeven for the LAZ bear put spread priced on this page is roughly $45.08 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 LAZ market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 13.62%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
When should you consider a bear put spread on LAZ?
Bear put spreads on LAZ reduce the cost of a bearish LAZ stock position by selling a lower-strike put; suited to moderate-decline theses where price reaches but does not vastly exceed the short strike.
How does current LAZ implied volatility affect this bear put spread?
LAZ ATM IV is at 47.50% with IV rank near 68.10%, 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.

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