LDOS Long Put Strategy
LDOS (Leidos Holdings, Inc.), in the Technology sector, (Information Technology Services industry), listed on NYSE.
Leidos Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides services and solutions in the defense, intelligence, civil, and health markets in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Defense Solutions, Civil, and Health. The Defense Solutions segment offers national security solutions and systems for air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace for the U.S. Intelligence Community, the Department of Defense, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, military services, and government agencies of U.S. allies abroad, as well as other federal and commercial customers in the national security industry. Its solutions include technology, large-scale systems, command and control platforms, data analytics, logistics, and cybersecurity solutions, as well as intelligence analysis and operations support services to critical missions. The Civil segment provides systems integration services to air navigation service providers, including the federal aviation administration, the En route automation modernization, advanced technology oceanic procedure, time based flow management, terminal flight data management, geo-7, and future flight services, as well as enterprise-information display systems; and security detection and automation services.
LDOS (Leidos Holdings, Inc.) trades in the Technology sector, specifically Information Technology Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $15.62B, a trailing P/E of 11.01, a beta of 0.57 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 121.53-205.77, average daily share volume of 1.2M, a public-listing history dating back to 2006, approximately 47K 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 0.57 indicates LDOS 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 11.01 is on the value side, where IV often compresses outside event windows because forward growth expectations are already discounted into the share price. LDOS pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a long put on LDOS?
A long put buys downside exposure with a fixed maximum loss equal to the premium paid; profit accrues if the underlying closes below the strike minus premium at expiration.
Current LDOS snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $123.05, ATM IV 32.00%, IV rank 41.77%, expected move 9.17%. The long put on LDOS 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 long put structure on LDOS specifically: LDOS IV at 32.00% 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 9.17% (roughly $11.29 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 LDOS expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on LDOS should anchor to the underlying notional of $123.05 per share and to the trader's directional view on LDOS stock.
LDOS long put setup
The LDOS long 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 LDOS near $123.05, the first option leg uses a $125.00 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 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 LDOS shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Put | $125.00 | $5.75 |
LDOS long put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$575.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $11,924.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$575.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $119.25
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 20.737
Max profit equals the strike minus premium times 100 (reached at zero); max loss equals the premium times 100. Breakeven is strike minus premium.
LDOS long put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the long put 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% | +$11,924.00 |
| $27.22 | -77.9% | +$9,203.41 |
| $54.42 | -55.8% | +$6,482.81 |
| $81.63 | -33.7% | +$3,762.22 |
| $108.83 | -11.6% | +$1,041.63 |
| $136.04 | +10.6% | -$575.00 |
| $163.25 | +32.7% | -$575.00 |
| $190.45 | +54.8% | -$575.00 |
| $217.66 | +76.9% | -$575.00 |
| $244.86 | +99.0% | -$575.00 |
When traders use long put on LDOS
Long puts on LDOS hedge an existing long LDOS stock position or express a bearish view with defined risk; position sizing typically scales the put notional to the underlying LDOS exposure being hedged.
LDOS thesis for this long put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for LDOS extends from approximately $111.76 on the downside to $134.34 on the upside. A LDOS long put expresses a directional view that the underlying closes below the strike minus premium at expiration, frequently sized to hedge an existing long LDOS position with one put per 100 shares held. Current LDOS IV rank near 41.77% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the long put 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 long put positions are structurally 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. 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. Long-premium structures like a long put on LDOS 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 LDOS chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a long put on LDOS?
- A long put on LDOS is the long put strategy applied to LDOS (stock). The strategy is structurally bearish: A long put buys downside exposure with a fixed maximum loss equal to the premium paid; profit accrues if the underlying closes below the strike minus premium at expiration. With LDOS stock trading near $123.05, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed LDOS chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are LDOS long put max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit equals the strike minus premium times 100 (reached at zero); max loss equals the premium times 100. Breakeven is strike minus premium. For the LDOS long put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 32.00%), the computed maximum profit is $11,924.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$575.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a LDOS long put?
- The breakeven for the LDOS long put priced on this page is roughly $119.25 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 LDOS market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 9.17%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a long put on LDOS?
- Long puts on LDOS hedge an existing long LDOS stock position or express a bearish view with defined risk; position sizing typically scales the put notional to the underlying LDOS exposure being hedged.
- How does current LDOS implied volatility affect this long put?
- LDOS ATM IV is at 32.00% with IV rank near 41.77%, 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.