LSTR Bull Call Spread Strategy
LSTR (Landstar System, Inc.), in the Industrials sector, (Integrated Freight & Logistics industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Landstar System, Inc. delivers comprehensive logistics and transportation solutions, operating across North America (U.S., Canada, and Mexico) and globally. The company's operations are divided into two main divisions: Transportation Logistics and Insurance. The core Transportation Logistics segment offers an extensive range of freight movement options. These include full truckload and less-than-truckload (LTL) services, intermodal rail, air and ocean cargo, as well as expedited ground and air delivery for time-critical shipments. This segment also handles specialized transport like heavy-haul projects, cross-border freight between the U.S. and Canada, and the U.S. and Mexico, as well as intra-Mexico and intra-Canada movements, and customs brokerage. Landstar additionally provides transportation services to other logistics providers, such as third-party logistics firms and small parcel carriers.
LSTR (Landstar System, Inc.) trades in the Industrials sector, specifically Integrated Freight & Logistics, with a market capitalization of approximately $6.31B, a trailing P/E of 47.89, a beta of 0.88 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 119.32-228.46, average daily share volume of 495K, a public-listing history dating back to 1993, approximately 1K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how LSTR stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.88 places LSTR roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. The trailing P/E of 47.89 is on the rich side, which tends to correlate with higher earnings-window IV expansion as the market debates whether forward growth supports the multiple. LSTR pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a bull call spread on LSTR?
A bull call spread buys an at-the-money call and sells an out-of-the-money call at a higher strike for defined risk and defined reward bounded by the strike width.
LSTR snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $190.11, ATM IV 32.80%, IV rank 17.42%, expected move 9.40%. The bull call spread on LSTR 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 bull call spread structure on LSTR specifically: LSTR IV at 32.80% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which favors premium-buying structures like a LSTR bull call spread, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 9.40% (roughly $17.88 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 LSTR expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on LSTR should anchor to the underlying notional of $190.11 per share and to the trader's directional view on LSTR stock.
LSTR bull call spread setup
The LSTR bull call spread 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 LSTR at $190.11 on that close, the first option leg uses a $190.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed LSTR 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 LSTR shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $190.00 | $7.50 |
| Sell 1 | Call | $200.00 | $3.35 |
LSTR bull call spread risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$415.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $585.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$415.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $194.15
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 1.410
Max profit equals strike width minus net debit times 100; max loss equals net debit times 100. Breakeven is long-call strike plus net debit.
LSTR bull call spread payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the bull call spread on LSTR. 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% | -$415.00 |
| $42.04 | -77.9% | -$415.00 |
| $84.08 | -55.8% | -$415.00 |
| $126.11 | -33.7% | -$415.00 |
| $168.14 | -11.6% | -$415.00 |
| $210.18 | +10.6% | +$585.00 |
| $252.21 | +32.7% | +$585.00 |
| $294.24 | +54.8% | +$585.00 |
| $336.28 | +76.9% | +$585.00 |
| $378.31 | +99.0% | +$585.00 |
When traders use bull call spread on LSTR
Bull call spreads on LSTR reduce the cost of a bullish LSTR stock position by selling a higher-strike call; suited to moderate-move theses where price reaches but does not vastly exceed the short strike.
LSTR thesis for this bull call spread
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for LSTR extends from approximately $172.23 on the downside to $207.99 on the upside. A LSTR bull call spread caps both the risk and the reward of a bullish position; relative to an outright long call on LSTR, the spread reduces the cost basis but limits the maximum profit to the strike width minus net debit. Current LSTR IV rank near 17.42% 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 LSTR at 32.80%. As a Industrials name, LSTR options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to LSTR-specific events.
LSTR bull call spread positions are structurally moderately 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. LSTR positions also carry Industrials sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move LSTR alongside the broader basket even when LSTR-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Long-premium structures like a bull call spread on LSTR 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 LSTR chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a bull call spread on LSTR?
- A bull call spread on LSTR is the bull call spread strategy applied to LSTR (stock). The strategy is structurally moderately bullish: A bull call spread buys an at-the-money call and sells an out-of-the-money call at a higher strike for defined risk and defined reward bounded by the strike width. With LSTR stock at $190.11 on the August 14, 2026 close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed LSTR chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are LSTR bull call spread max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit equals strike width minus net debit times 100; max loss equals net debit times 100. Breakeven is long-call strike plus net debit. For the LSTR bull call spread priced from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 32.80%), the computed maximum profit is $585.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$415.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a LSTR bull call spread?
- The breakeven for the LSTR bull call spread priced on this page is roughly $194.15 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 LSTR market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 9.40%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a bull call spread on LSTR?
- Bull call spreads on LSTR reduce the cost of a bullish LSTR stock position by selling a higher-strike call; suited to moderate-move theses where price reaches but does not vastly exceed the short strike.
- How does current LSTR implied volatility affect this bull call spread?
- LSTR ATM IV is at 32.80% with IV rank near 17.42%, 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.