PTEN Collar Strategy

PTEN (Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc.), in the Energy sector, (Oil & Gas Drilling industry), listed on NASDAQ.

Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides onshore contract drilling services to oil and natural gas operators in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Contract Drilling Services, Pressure Pumping Services, and Directional Drilling Services. The Contract Drilling Services segment markets its contract drilling services primarily in west Texas, Appalachia, Rockies, Oklahoma, South Texas, East Texas, and Colombia. As of December 31, 2021, this segment had a drilling fleet of 192 marketable land-based drilling rigs. The Pressure Pumping Services segment offers pressure pumping services that consist of well stimulation for the completion of new wells and remedial work on existing wells, as well as hydraulic fracturing, cementing, and acid pumping services in Texas and the Appalachian region. The Directional Drilling Services segment provides a suite of directional drilling services, including directional drilling and measurement-while-drilling services; supply and rental of downhole performance motors; and software and services that enhances the accuracy of directional and horizontal wellbores, wellbore quality, and on-bottom rate of penetration.

PTEN (Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc.) trades in the Energy sector, specifically Oil & Gas Drilling, with a market capitalization of approximately $4.56B, a beta of 0.65 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 5.1-12.62, average daily share volume of 10.6M, a public-listing history dating back to 1993, approximately 9K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how PTEN stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.

A beta of 0.65 indicates PTEN has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. PTEN pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.

What is a collar on PTEN?

A collar pairs long stock with a protective out-of-the-money put financed by a short out-of-the-money call, capping both tails of the position around the current spot.

Current PTEN snapshot

As of May 15, 2026, spot at $12.36, ATM IV 53.30%, IV rank 28.16%, expected move 15.28%. The collar on PTEN 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 34-day expiry.

Why this collar structure on PTEN specifically: IV regime affects collar pricing on both sides; compressed PTEN IV at 53.30% typically pushes the short call premium to roughly offset the long put cost, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 15.28% (roughly $1.89 on the underlying). The 34-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated PTEN expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on PTEN should anchor to the underlying notional of $12.36 per share and to the trader's directional view on PTEN stock.

PTEN collar setup

The PTEN collar below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With PTEN near $12.36, the first option leg uses a $12.98 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed PTEN chain at a 34-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 PTEN shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).

ActionTypeStrike / BasisPremium (est)
Buy 100 sharesStock$12.36long
Sell 1Call$12.98N/A
Buy 1Put$11.74N/A

PTEN collar risk and reward

Net Premium / Debit
N/A
Max Profit (per contract)
Unbounded
Max Loss (per contract)
Unbounded
Breakeven(s)
None on modeled curve
Risk / Reward Ratio
N/A

Max profit roughly equals short-call strike minus cost basis plus net premium; max loss roughly equals cost basis minus long-put strike minus net premium. Breakeven shifts by the net premium.

PTEN collar payoff curve

Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the collar on PTEN. 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.

When traders use collar on PTEN

Collars on PTEN hedge an existing long PTEN stock position; the long put sets a floor while the short call finances it, often run as a near-zero-cost hedge during expected volatility windows.

PTEN thesis for this collar

The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for PTEN extends from approximately $10.47 on the downside to $14.25 on the upside. A PTEN collar hedges an existing long PTEN position with a protective put while financing the put cost via a short call; when the premiums roughly offset, the collar acts as a near-zero-cost insurance band around the current spot. Current PTEN IV rank near 28.16% 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 PTEN at 53.30%. As a Energy name, PTEN options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to PTEN-specific events.

PTEN collar positions are structurally neutral (protective); 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. PTEN positions also carry Energy sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move PTEN alongside the broader basket even when PTEN-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current PTEN chain quotes before placing a trade.

Frequently asked questions

What is a collar on PTEN?
A collar on PTEN is the collar strategy applied to PTEN (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral (protective): A collar pairs long stock with a protective out-of-the-money put financed by a short out-of-the-money call, capping both tails of the position around the current spot. With PTEN stock trading near $12.36, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed PTEN chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
How are PTEN collar max profit and max loss calculated?
Max profit roughly equals short-call strike minus cost basis plus net premium; max loss roughly equals cost basis minus long-put strike minus net premium. Breakeven shifts by the net premium. For the PTEN collar priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 53.30%), the computed maximum profit is unbounded per contract and the computed maximum loss is unbounded per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
What is the breakeven for a PTEN collar?
The breakeven for the PTEN collar priced on this page is no defined breakeven on the modeled curve 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 PTEN market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 15.28%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
When should you consider a collar on PTEN?
Collars on PTEN hedge an existing long PTEN stock position; the long put sets a floor while the short call finances it, often run as a near-zero-cost hedge during expected volatility windows.
How does current PTEN implied volatility affect this collar?
PTEN ATM IV is at 53.30% with IV rank near 28.16%, 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.

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