MGRC Cash-Secured Put Strategy
MGRC (McGrath RentCorp), in the Industrials sector, (Rental & Leasing Services industry), listed on NASDAQ.
McGrath RentCorp (MGRC) operates as a diversified business-to-business provider of rental solutions, serving clients across the United States and internationally. Its primary offerings encompass a range of temporary infrastructure and specialized equipment, including versatile modular structures, portable storage units, advanced electronic testing apparatus, and various liquid and solid containment solutions. The company's operations are divided into four distinct segments: Mobile Modular, TRS-RenTelco, Adler Tanks, and Enviroplex. Mobile Modular specializes in the rental and sale of adaptable modular buildings and portable storage containers. These structures cater to diverse applications such as educational facilities, temporary workplaces, sales outposts, construction site offices, healthcare clinics, and more. TRS-RenTelco focuses on providing (renting and selling) advanced electronic test and measurement equipment.
MGRC (McGrath RentCorp) trades in the Industrials sector, specifically Rental & Leasing Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $2.94B, a trailing P/E of 19.31, a beta of 0.45 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 94.99-127.68, average daily share volume of 215K, a public-listing history dating back to 1984, approximately 1K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how MGRC stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.45 indicates MGRC has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. MGRC pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a cash-secured put on MGRC?
A cash-secured put sells an out-of-the-money put while holding cash equal to the strike-times-100 obligation, keeping the premium when the underlying stays above the strike.
MGRC snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $122.24, ATM IV 74.80%, IV rank 26.43%, expected move 21.44%. The cash-secured put on MGRC 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 cash-secured put structure on MGRC specifically: MGRC IV at 74.80% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which means a premium-selling MGRC cash-secured put collects less credit per unit of strike-width risk, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 21.44% (roughly $26.21 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 MGRC expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on MGRC should anchor to the underlying notional of $122.24 per share and to the trader's directional view on MGRC stock.
MGRC cash-secured put setup
The MGRC cash-secured put 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 MGRC at $122.24 on that close, the first option leg uses a $115.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed MGRC 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 MGRC shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $115.00 | $7.54 |
MGRC cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$754.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $754.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$10,745.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $107.46
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.070
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
MGRC cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on MGRC. 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% | -$10,745.00 |
| $27.04 | -77.9% | -$8,042.32 |
| $54.06 | -55.8% | -$5,339.63 |
| $81.09 | -33.7% | -$2,636.95 |
| $108.12 | -11.6% | +$65.73 |
| $135.14 | +10.6% | +$754.00 |
| $162.17 | +32.7% | +$754.00 |
| $189.20 | +54.8% | +$754.00 |
| $216.22 | +76.9% | +$754.00 |
| $243.25 | +99.0% | +$754.00 |
When traders use cash-secured put on MGRC
Cash-secured puts on MGRC earn premium while a trader waits to acquire MGRC stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning MGRC.
MGRC thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for MGRC extends from approximately $96.03 on the downside to $148.45 on the upside. A MGRC cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire MGRC at the strike price; the strategy is most attractive when the trader is comfortable holding the underlying at that level and IV is rich enough to compensate for the assignment risk. Current MGRC IV rank near 26.43% 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 MGRC at 74.80%. As a Industrials name, MGRC options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to MGRC-specific events.
MGRC cash-secured put 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. MGRC positions also carry Industrials sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move MGRC alongside the broader basket even when MGRC-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on MGRC carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical MGRC earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current MGRC chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on MGRC?
- A cash-secured put on MGRC is the cash-secured put strategy applied to MGRC (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral to slightly bullish: A cash-secured put sells an out-of-the-money put while holding cash equal to the strike-times-100 obligation, keeping the premium when the underlying stays above the strike. With MGRC stock at $122.24 on the August 14, 2026 close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed MGRC chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are MGRC cash-secured put max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium. For the MGRC cash-secured put priced from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 74.80%), the computed maximum profit is $754.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$10,745.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a MGRC cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the MGRC cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $107.46 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 MGRC market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 21.44%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a cash-secured put on MGRC?
- Cash-secured puts on MGRC earn premium while a trader waits to acquire MGRC stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning MGRC.
- How does current MGRC implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- MGRC ATM IV is at 74.80% with IV rank near 26.43%, 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.