LAZ Cash-Secured Put 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 cash-secured put on LAZ?
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 LAZ snapshot
As of May 12, 2026, spot at $46.06, ATM IV 47.50%, IV rank 68.10%, expected move 13.62%. The cash-secured put 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 cash-secured put structure on LAZ specifically: LAZ IV at 47.50% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so the credit collected on a LAZ cash-secured put sits in line with its long-run distribution, 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 cash-secured put setup
The LAZ 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 LAZ near $46.06, the first option leg uses a $44.00 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).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $44.00 | $2.68 |
LAZ cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$267.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $267.50
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$4,131.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $41.33
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.065
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
LAZ cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put 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 Spot | P&L at Expiration |
|---|---|---|
| $0.01 | -100.0% | -$4,131.50 |
| $10.19 | -77.9% | -$3,113.20 |
| $20.38 | -55.8% | -$2,094.90 |
| $30.56 | -33.7% | -$1,076.60 |
| $40.74 | -11.5% | -$58.29 |
| $50.93 | +10.6% | +$267.50 |
| $61.11 | +32.7% | +$267.50 |
| $71.29 | +54.8% | +$267.50 |
| $81.47 | +76.9% | +$267.50 |
| $91.66 | +99.0% | +$267.50 |
When traders use cash-secured put on LAZ
Cash-secured puts on LAZ earn premium while a trader waits to acquire LAZ stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning LAZ.
LAZ thesis for this cash-secured put
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 cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire LAZ 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 LAZ IV rank near 68.10% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the cash-secured put 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 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. 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. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on LAZ carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical LAZ earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current LAZ chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on LAZ?
- A cash-secured put on LAZ is the cash-secured put strategy applied to LAZ (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 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 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 LAZ cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 47.50%), the computed maximum profit is $267.50 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$4,131.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a LAZ cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the LAZ cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $41.33 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 cash-secured put on LAZ?
- Cash-secured puts on LAZ earn premium while a trader waits to acquire LAZ stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning LAZ.
- How does current LAZ implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- 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.