LH Long Put Strategy
LH (Labcorp Holdings Inc.), in the Healthcare sector, (Medical - Diagnostics & Research industry), listed on NYSE.
Labcorp Holdings, Inc. provides laboratory services to help doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, researchers and patients make clear and confident decisions. The company was founded on April 16, 2024 and is headquartered in Burlington, NC.
LH (Labcorp Holdings Inc.) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Medical - Diagnostics & Research, with a market capitalization of approximately $20.86B, a trailing P/E of 22.24, a beta of 0.88 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 239.67-293.72, average daily share volume of 661K, a public-listing history dating back to 1990, approximately 61K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how LH stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.88 places LH roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. LH pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a long put on LH?
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 LH snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $251.74, ATM IV 25.00%, IV rank 38.07%, expected move 7.17%. The long put on LH 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 LH specifically: LH IV at 25.00% 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 7.17% (roughly $18.04 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 LH expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on LH should anchor to the underlying notional of $251.74 per share and to the trader's directional view on LH stock.
LH long put setup
The LH 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 LH near $251.74, the first option leg uses a $250.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed LH 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 LH shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Put | $250.00 | $6.75 |
LH long put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$675.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $24,324.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$675.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $243.25
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 36.036
Max profit equals the strike minus premium times 100 (reached at zero); max loss equals the premium times 100. Breakeven is strike minus premium.
LH long put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the long put on LH. 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% | +$24,324.00 |
| $55.67 | -77.9% | +$18,758.00 |
| $111.33 | -55.8% | +$13,192.00 |
| $166.99 | -33.7% | +$7,626.00 |
| $222.65 | -11.6% | +$2,060.00 |
| $278.31 | +10.6% | -$675.00 |
| $333.97 | +32.7% | -$675.00 |
| $389.63 | +54.8% | -$675.00 |
| $445.29 | +76.9% | -$675.00 |
| $500.95 | +99.0% | -$675.00 |
When traders use long put on LH
Long puts on LH hedge an existing long LH stock position or express a bearish view with defined risk; position sizing typically scales the put notional to the underlying LH exposure being hedged.
LH thesis for this long put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for LH extends from approximately $233.70 on the downside to $269.78 on the upside. A LH long put expresses a directional view that the underlying closes below the strike minus premium at expiration, frequently sized to hedge an existing long LH position with one put per 100 shares held. Current LH IV rank near 38.07% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the long put thesis on LH should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Healthcare name, LH options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to LH-specific events.
LH 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. LH positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move LH alongside the broader basket even when LH-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Long-premium structures like a long put on LH 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 LH chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a long put on LH?
- A long put on LH is the long put strategy applied to LH (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 LH stock trading near $251.74, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed LH chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are LH 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 LH long put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 25.00%), the computed maximum profit is $24,324.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$675.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a LH long put?
- The breakeven for the LH long put priced on this page is roughly $243.25 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 LH market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 7.17%; 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 LH?
- Long puts on LH hedge an existing long LH stock position or express a bearish view with defined risk; position sizing typically scales the put notional to the underlying LH exposure being hedged.
- How does current LH implied volatility affect this long put?
- LH ATM IV is at 25.00% with IV rank near 38.07%, 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.