NHC Cash-Secured Put Strategy
NHC (National HealthCare Corporation), in the Healthcare sector, (Medical - Care Facilities industry), listed on AMEX.
National HealthCare Corporation operates, manages, and provides services to skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, independent living facilities, homecare and hospice agencies, and a behavioral health hospital. Its skilled nursing facilities offer licensed therapy services, nutrition services, social services, activities, and housekeeping and laundry services, as well as medical services prescribed by physicians; and rehabilitative services, such as physical, speech, respiratory, and occupational therapy for patients recovering from strokes, heart attacks, orthopedic conditions, neurological illnesses, or other illnesses, injuries, or disabilities. The company's medical specialty units comprise memory care units and sub-cute nursing units that provide specialized care and programs for persons with Alzheimer's or related disorders; and assisted living centers offer personal care services and assistance with general activities of daily living, such as dressing, bathing, meal preparation, and medication management. It also offers behavioral health services to both adults and geriatric patients with psychiatric, emotional, and addictive disorders. In addition, it provides health care programs that offer skilled services, such as infusion, wound care and physical, occupational, and speech therapies; hospice care services; operates pharmacies; offers management, accounting, financial, and insurance services; and leases its properties to third party operators. As of February 18, 2022, the company operated 75 skilled nursing facilities with 9,473 beds, 24 assisted living facilities, five independent living facilities, one behavioral health hospital, 34 homecare agencies, and 28 hospice agencies.
NHC (National HealthCare Corporation) trades in the Healthcare sector, specifically Medical - Care Facilities, with a market capitalization of approximately $3.04B, a trailing P/E of 24.47, a beta of 0.65 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 93.54-194.76, average daily share volume of 116K, a public-listing history dating back to 1987, approximately 15K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how NHC stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.65 indicates NHC has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. NHC 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 NHC?
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.
Current NHC snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $192.01, ATM IV 24.00%, IV rank 14.85%, expected move 6.88%. The cash-secured put on NHC 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 98-day expiry.
Why this cash-secured put structure on NHC specifically: NHC IV at 24.00% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which means a premium-selling NHC cash-secured put collects less credit per unit of strike-width risk, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 6.88% (roughly $13.21 on the underlying). The 98-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated NHC expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on NHC should anchor to the underlying notional of $192.01 per share and to the trader's directional view on NHC stock.
NHC cash-secured put setup
The NHC cash-secured 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 NHC near $192.01, the first option leg uses a $180.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed NHC chain at a 98-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 NHC shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $180.00 | $4.98 |
NHC cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$497.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $497.50
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$17,501.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $175.03
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.028
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
NHC cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on NHC. 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% | -$17,501.50 |
| $42.46 | -77.9% | -$13,256.16 |
| $84.92 | -55.8% | -$9,010.83 |
| $127.37 | -33.7% | -$4,765.49 |
| $169.82 | -11.6% | -$520.15 |
| $212.28 | +10.6% | +$497.50 |
| $254.73 | +32.7% | +$497.50 |
| $297.18 | +54.8% | +$497.50 |
| $339.64 | +76.9% | +$497.50 |
| $382.09 | +99.0% | +$497.50 |
When traders use cash-secured put on NHC
Cash-secured puts on NHC earn premium while a trader waits to acquire NHC stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning NHC.
NHC thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for NHC extends from approximately $178.80 on the downside to $205.22 on the upside. A NHC cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire NHC 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 NHC IV rank near 14.85% 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 NHC at 24.00%. As a Healthcare name, NHC options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to NHC-specific events.
NHC 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. NHC positions also carry Healthcare sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move NHC alongside the broader basket even when NHC-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on NHC carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical NHC earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current NHC chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on NHC?
- A cash-secured put on NHC is the cash-secured put strategy applied to NHC (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 NHC stock trading near $192.01, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed NHC chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are NHC 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 NHC cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 24.00%), the computed maximum profit is $497.50 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$17,501.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a NHC cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the NHC cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $175.03 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 NHC market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 6.88%; 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 NHC?
- Cash-secured puts on NHC earn premium while a trader waits to acquire NHC stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning NHC.
- How does current NHC implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- NHC ATM IV is at 24.00% with IV rank near 14.85%, 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.