NOV Covered Call Strategy
NOV (NOV Inc.), in the Energy sector, (Oil & Gas Equipment & Services industry), listed on NYSE.
NOV Inc. designs, constructs, manufactures, and sells systems, components, and products for oil and gas drilling and production, and industrial and renewable energy sectors worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Wellbore Technologies, Completion & Production Solutions, and Rig Technologies. It also provides solids control and waste management equipment and services; portable power generation products; drill and wired pipes; drilling optimization and automation services; tubular inspection, repair, and coating services; instrumentation; measuring and monitoring services; downhole and fishing tools; steerable technologies; and drill bits. The company offers equipment and technologies for hydraulic fracture stimulation, including downhole multistage fracturing tools, pressure pumping trucks, blenders, sanders, hydration and injection units, flowline, and manifolds; coiled tubing units, and wireline units and tools; connections and liner hangers; onshore production consists of composite pipe, surface transfer and progressive cavity pumps, and artificial lift systems; and offshore production, such as floating production systems and subsea production technologies, as well as manufactures industrial pumps and mixers. It also provides substructures, derricks, and masts; cranes; jacking systems; pipe lifting, racking, rotating, and assembly systems; mud pumps; pressure control equipment; drives and generators; rig instrumentation and control systems; mooring, anchor, and deck handling machinery; equipment components for offshore wind construction vessels; and pipelay and construction systems. NOV Inc. offers spare parts, repair, and rentals as well as comprehensive remote equipment monitoring, technical support, field service, and customer training.
NOV (NOV Inc.) trades in the Energy sector, specifically Oil & Gas Equipment & Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $7.35B, a trailing P/E of 80.40, a beta of 0.92 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 11.65-20.93, average daily share volume of 5.0M, a public-listing history dating back to 1996, approximately 34K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how NOV stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.92 places NOV roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. The trailing P/E of 80.40 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. NOV pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a covered call on NOV?
A covered call pairs long stock with a short out-of-the-money call, collecting premium and capping upside above the short strike in exchange for income.
Current NOV snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $20.34, ATM IV 36.90%, IV rank 31.62%, expected move 10.58%. The covered call on NOV 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 covered call structure on NOV specifically: NOV IV at 36.90% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so the credit collected on a NOV covered call sits in line with its long-run distribution, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 10.58% (roughly $2.15 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 NOV expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on NOV should anchor to the underlying notional of $20.34 per share and to the trader's directional view on NOV stock.
NOV covered call setup
The NOV covered call below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With NOV near $20.34, the first option leg uses a $21.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed NOV 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 NOV shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 100 shares | Stock | $20.34 | long |
| Sell 1 | Call | $21.00 | $1.40 |
NOV covered call risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$1,894.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $206.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$1,893.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $18.94
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.109
Max profit equals short-strike minus cost basis plus premium times 100; max loss is cost basis minus premium (at zero). Breakeven is cost basis minus premium.
NOV covered call payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the covered call on NOV. 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% | -$1,893.00 |
| $4.51 | -77.8% | -$1,443.38 |
| $9.00 | -55.7% | -$993.76 |
| $13.50 | -33.6% | -$544.15 |
| $17.99 | -11.5% | -$94.53 |
| $22.49 | +10.6% | +$206.00 |
| $26.99 | +32.7% | +$206.00 |
| $31.48 | +54.8% | +$206.00 |
| $35.98 | +76.9% | +$206.00 |
| $40.48 | +99.0% | +$206.00 |
When traders use covered call on NOV
Covered calls on NOV are an income strategy run on existing NOV stock positions; traders typically sell calls at 25-35 delta with 30-45 days to expiration to balance premium against upside cap.
NOV thesis for this covered call
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for NOV extends from approximately $18.19 on the downside to $22.49 on the upside. A NOV covered call collects premium on an existing long NOV position, trading off upside above the short call strike for immediate income; the short strike selection should reflect the trader's view on whether NOV will breach that level within the expiration window. Current NOV IV rank near 31.62% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the covered call thesis on NOV should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Energy name, NOV options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to NOV-specific events.
NOV covered call 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. NOV positions also carry Energy sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move NOV alongside the broader basket even when NOV-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a covered call on NOV carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical NOV earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current NOV chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a covered call on NOV?
- A covered call on NOV is the covered call strategy applied to NOV (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral to slightly bullish: A covered call pairs long stock with a short out-of-the-money call, collecting premium and capping upside above the short strike in exchange for income. With NOV stock trading near $20.34, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed NOV chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are NOV covered call max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit equals short-strike minus cost basis plus premium times 100; max loss is cost basis minus premium (at zero). Breakeven is cost basis minus premium. For the NOV covered call priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 36.90%), the computed maximum profit is $206.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$1,893.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a NOV covered call?
- The breakeven for the NOV covered call priced on this page is roughly $18.94 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 NOV market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 10.58%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a covered call on NOV?
- Covered calls on NOV are an income strategy run on existing NOV stock positions; traders typically sell calls at 25-35 delta with 30-45 days to expiration to balance premium against upside cap.
- How does current NOV implied volatility affect this covered call?
- NOV ATM IV is at 36.90% with IV rank near 31.62%, which is mid-range against its 1-year history. Strategy selection depends more on directional thesis and expected move than on a strong IV signal.