LMNR Butterfly Strategy
LMNR (Limoneira Company), in the Consumer Defensive sector, (Agricultural Farm Products industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Limoneira Company operates as an agribusiness and real estate development company in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three divisions: Agribusiness, Rental Operations, and Real Estate Development. It grows, processes, packs, markets, and sells lemons. The company also grows avocado, oranges, and specialty citrus and other crops, including Moro blood oranges, Cara Cara oranges, Minneola tangelos, Star Ruby grapefruit, pummelos, pistachios, and wine grapes. It has approximately 6,100 acres of lemons planted primarily in Ventura, Tulare, San Luis Obispo, and San Bernardino Counties in California; and Jujuy, Argentina, as well in Yuma County, Arizona, and La Serena, Chile; 800 acres of avocados planted in Ventura County; 1,000 acres of oranges planted in Tulare County, California; and 900 acres of specialty citrus and other crops. In addition, the company rents residential housing units and commercial office buildings, as well as leases approximately 500 acres of its land to third-party agricultural tenants.
LMNR (Limoneira Company) trades in the Consumer Defensive sector, specifically Agricultural Farm Products, with a market capitalization of approximately $240.1M, a beta of 0.30 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 12.2-17.19, average daily share volume of 74K, a public-listing history dating back to 2003, approximately 241 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how LMNR stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.30 indicates LMNR has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. LMNR pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a butterfly on LMNR?
A long call butterfly buys one lower-strike call, sells two ATM calls, and buys one higher-strike call, paying a small net debit for a defined-risk position that maxes out if the underlying pins the middle strike at expiration.
Current LMNR snapshot
As of May 14, 2026, spot at $13.29, ATM IV 41.70%, IV rank 5.36%, expected move 11.96%. The butterfly on LMNR 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 35-day expiry.
Why this butterfly structure on LMNR specifically: LMNR IV at 41.70% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a LMNR butterfly, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 11.96% (roughly $1.59 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 LMNR expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on LMNR should anchor to the underlying notional of $13.29 per share and to the trader's directional view on LMNR stock.
LMNR butterfly setup
The LMNR butterfly below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With LMNR near $13.29, the first option leg uses a $12.63 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed LMNR 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 LMNR shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $12.63 | N/A |
| Sell 2 | Call | $13.29 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Call | $13.95 | N/A |
LMNR butterfly risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- N/A
- Max Profit (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Max Loss (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Breakeven(s)
- None on modeled curve
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- N/A
Max profit equals the wing width minus net debit times 100 (reached when the underlying pins the middle strike); max loss equals the net debit times 100. Two breakevens at lower-wing plus debit and upper-wing minus debit.
LMNR butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on LMNR. 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.
When traders use butterfly on LMNR
Butterflies on LMNR are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect LMNR to settle near a specific level at expiration (often the prior close, a round number, or the max-pain strike) and want defined-risk exposure to that outcome.
LMNR thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for LMNR extends from approximately $11.70 on the downside to $14.88 on the upside. A LMNR long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if LMNR settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current LMNR IV rank near 5.36% sits in the lower third of its 1-year distribution, where IV often re-expands toward the mean; this favors premium-buying structures and disadvantages premium-selling structures on LMNR at 41.70%. As a Consumer Defensive name, LMNR options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to LMNR-specific events.
LMNR butterfly positions are structurally neutral / pin (limited-risk, limited-reward); 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. LMNR positions also carry Consumer Defensive sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move LMNR alongside the broader basket even when LMNR-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current LMNR chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on LMNR?
- A butterfly on LMNR is the butterfly strategy applied to LMNR (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral / pin (limited-risk, limited-reward): A long call butterfly buys one lower-strike call, sells two ATM calls, and buys one higher-strike call, paying a small net debit for a defined-risk position that maxes out if the underlying pins the middle strike at expiration. With LMNR stock trading near $13.29, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed LMNR chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are LMNR butterfly max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit equals the wing width minus net debit times 100 (reached when the underlying pins the middle strike); max loss equals the net debit times 100. Two breakevens at lower-wing plus debit and upper-wing minus debit. For the LMNR butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 41.70%), the computed maximum profit is unbounded per contract and the computed maximum loss is unbounded per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a LMNR butterfly?
- The breakeven for the LMNR butterfly priced on this page is no defined breakeven on the modeled curve 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 LMNR market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 11.96%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on LMNR?
- Butterflies on LMNR are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect LMNR to settle near a specific level at expiration (often the prior close, a round number, or the max-pain strike) and want defined-risk exposure to that outcome.
- How does current LMNR implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- LMNR ATM IV is at 41.70% with IV rank near 5.36%, which is on the low end of its 1-year range. Premium-buying structures (long call, long put, debit spreads) are relatively cheap in this regime; premium-selling structures collect less credit per unit risk.