LDOS Covered Call Strategy
LDOS (Leidos Holdings, Inc.), in the Technology sector, (Information Technology Services industry), listed on NYSE.
Leidos Holdings, Inc., along with its various subsidiaries, delivers a broad spectrum of services and innovative solutions across key markets: defense, intelligence, civil government, and health. The company operates both domestically within the United States and on an international scale. Its operations are organized into three principal divisions: Defense Solutions, Civil, and Health. The Defense Solutions segment is dedicated to providing national security systems and specialized support spanning air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace domains. Its extensive client base includes the U.S. Intelligence Community, the Department of Defense, NASA, various military branches, allied foreign governments, and other federal and commercial entities within the national security sector.
LDOS (Leidos Holdings, Inc.) trades in the Technology sector, specifically Information Technology Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $17.66B, a trailing P/E of 12.76, a beta of 0.55 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 98.86-205.77, average daily share volume of 1.5M, a public-listing history dating back to 2006, approximately 50K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how LDOS stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.55 indicates LDOS has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. LDOS pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a covered call on LDOS?
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.
LDOS snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $143.39, ATM IV 30.70%, IV rank 36.45%, expected move 8.80%. The covered call on LDOS below is built from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain, with strikes snapped to listed contracts and premiums pulled from the bid/ask midpoint at a 35-day expiry.
Why this covered call structure on LDOS specifically: LDOS IV at 30.70% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so the credit collected on a LDOS covered call sits in line with its long-run distribution, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 8.80% (roughly $12.62 on the underlying). The 35-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated LDOS expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on LDOS should anchor to the underlying notional of $143.39 per share and to the trader's directional view on LDOS stock.
LDOS covered call setup
The LDOS covered call below is built from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With LDOS at $143.39 on that close, the first option leg uses a $150.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed LDOS chain at a 35-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 LDOS shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 100 shares | Stock | $143.39 | long |
| Sell 1 | Call | $150.00 | $2.75 |
LDOS covered call risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$14,064.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $936.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$14,063.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $140.64
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.067
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.
LDOS covered call payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the covered call on LDOS. 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% | -$14,063.00 |
| $31.71 | -77.9% | -$10,892.68 |
| $63.42 | -55.8% | -$7,722.36 |
| $95.12 | -33.7% | -$4,552.04 |
| $126.82 | -11.6% | -$1,381.71 |
| $158.53 | +10.6% | +$936.00 |
| $190.23 | +32.7% | +$936.00 |
| $221.93 | +54.8% | +$936.00 |
| $253.64 | +76.9% | +$936.00 |
| $285.34 | +99.0% | +$936.00 |
When traders use covered call on LDOS
Covered calls on LDOS are an income strategy run on existing LDOS stock positions; traders typically sell calls at 25-35 delta with 30-45 days to expiration to balance premium against upside cap.
LDOS thesis for this covered call
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for LDOS extends from approximately $130.77 on the downside to $156.01 on the upside. A LDOS covered call collects premium on an existing long LDOS position, trading off upside above the short call strike for immediate income; the short strike selection should reflect the trader's view on whether LDOS will breach that level within the expiration window. Current LDOS IV rank near 36.45% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the covered call thesis on LDOS should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Technology name, LDOS options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to LDOS-specific events.
LDOS 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. LDOS positions also carry Technology sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move LDOS alongside the broader basket even when LDOS-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a covered call on LDOS carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical LDOS earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current LDOS chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a covered call on LDOS?
- A covered call on LDOS is the covered call strategy applied to LDOS (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 LDOS stock at $143.39 on the August 14, 2026 close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed LDOS chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are LDOS 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 LDOS covered call priced from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 30.70%), the computed maximum profit is $936.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$14,063.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a LDOS covered call?
- The breakeven for the LDOS covered call priced on this page is roughly $140.64 at expiration, derived from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain's premiums. Breakeven is the underlying price at which the strategy's P&L crosses zero ignoring transaction costs and assignment risk. The LDOS market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 8.80%; 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 LDOS?
- Covered calls on LDOS are an income strategy run on existing LDOS 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 LDOS implied volatility affect this covered call?
- LDOS ATM IV is at 30.70% with IV rank near 36.45%, 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.