MLI Cash-Secured Put Strategy
MLI (Mueller Industries, Inc.), in the Industrials sector, (Manufacturing - Metal Fabrication industry), listed on NYSE.
Mueller Industries, Inc., established in 1917 and based in Collierville, Tennessee, is a global manufacturer and distributor of various products crafted from copper, brass, aluminum, and plastic. The company operates internationally, with a presence in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, South Korea, the Middle East, China, and Mexico. Its business is divided into three key segments: Piping Systems, Industrial Metals, and Climate. The Piping Systems segment offers a comprehensive range of products including copper tubing, fittings, line sets, and pipe nipples. It also provides PEX plumbing and radiant heating systems, as well as plastic injection tooling. Additionally, this segment resells items such as steel pipes, brass and plastic plumbing valves, malleable iron fittings, faucets, and other plumbing specialties, alongside supplying water tubes.
MLI (Mueller Industries, Inc.) trades in the Industrials sector, specifically Manufacturing - Metal Fabrication, with a market capitalization of approximately $15.10B, a trailing P/E of 17.45, a beta of 1.12 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 44.975-71.12, average daily share volume of 1.8M, a public-listing history dating back to 1991, approximately 5K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how MLI stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.12 places MLI roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. MLI 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 MLI?
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.
MLI snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $66.20, ATM IV 29.90%, IV rank 7.59%, expected move 8.57%. The cash-secured put on MLI 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 MLI specifically: MLI IV at 29.90% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which means a premium-selling MLI cash-secured put collects less credit per unit of strike-width risk, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 8.57% (roughly $5.67 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 MLI expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on MLI should anchor to the underlying notional of $66.20 per share and to the trader's directional view on MLI stock.
MLI cash-secured put setup
The MLI 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 MLI at $66.20 on that close, the first option leg uses a $62.50 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed MLI 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 MLI shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $62.50 | $0.83 |
MLI cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$82.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $82.50
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$6,166.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $61.68
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.013
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
MLI cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on MLI. 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% | -$6,166.50 |
| $14.65 | -77.9% | -$4,702.89 |
| $29.28 | -55.8% | -$3,239.28 |
| $43.92 | -33.7% | -$1,775.68 |
| $58.55 | -11.5% | -$312.07 |
| $73.19 | +10.6% | +$82.50 |
| $87.83 | +32.7% | +$82.50 |
| $102.46 | +54.8% | +$82.50 |
| $117.10 | +76.9% | +$82.50 |
| $131.73 | +99.0% | +$82.50 |
When traders use cash-secured put on MLI
Cash-secured puts on MLI earn premium while a trader waits to acquire MLI stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning MLI.
MLI thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for MLI extends from approximately $60.53 on the downside to $71.87 on the upside. A MLI cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire MLI 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 MLI IV rank near 7.59% 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 MLI at 29.90%. As a Industrials name, MLI options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to MLI-specific events.
MLI 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. MLI positions also carry Industrials sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move MLI alongside the broader basket even when MLI-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on MLI carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical MLI earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current MLI chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on MLI?
- A cash-secured put on MLI is the cash-secured put strategy applied to MLI (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 MLI stock at $66.20 on the August 14, 2026 close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed MLI chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are MLI 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 MLI cash-secured put priced from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 29.90%), the computed maximum profit is $82.50 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$6,166.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a MLI cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the MLI cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $61.68 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 MLI market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 8.57%; 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 MLI?
- Cash-secured puts on MLI earn premium while a trader waits to acquire MLI stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning MLI.
- How does current MLI implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- MLI ATM IV is at 29.90% with IV rank near 7.59%, 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.