SAIC Cash-Secured Put Strategy
SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation), in the Technology sector, (Information Technology Services industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Science Applications International Corporation provides technical, engineering, and enterprise information technology (IT) services primarily in the United States. The company's offerings include engineering; technology integration; IT modernization; maintenance of ground and maritime systems; logistics; training and simulation; operation and program support services; and end-to-end services, such as design, development, integration, deployment, management and operations, sustainment, and security of its customers' IT infrastructure, as well as cloud migration, managed services, infrastructure modernization, and enterprise IT-as-a-service solutions. It serves the U.S. military comprising Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard; Department of Defense agencies; National Aeronautics and Space Administration; the U.S. Department of State; Department of Justice; Department of Homeland Security; and various intelligence community agencies, as well as U.S. federal civilian agencies. The company was formerly known as SAIC Gemini, Inc. and changed its name to Science Applications International Corporation in September 2013. Science Applications International Corporation was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.
SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation) trades in the Technology sector, specifically Information Technology Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $3.93B, a trailing P/E of 11.36, a beta of 0.27 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 81.08-124.11, average daily share volume of 619K, a public-listing history dating back to 2013, approximately 24K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how SAIC stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.27 indicates SAIC has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. The trailing P/E of 11.36 is on the value side, where IV often compresses outside event windows because forward growth expectations are already discounted into the share price. SAIC 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 SAIC?
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 SAIC snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $92.71, ATM IV 44.50%, IV rank 60.64%, expected move 12.76%. The cash-secured put on SAIC 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 SAIC specifically: SAIC IV at 44.50% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so the credit collected on a SAIC cash-secured put sits in line with its long-run distribution, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 12.76% (roughly $11.83 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 SAIC expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on SAIC should anchor to the underlying notional of $92.71 per share and to the trader's directional view on SAIC stock.
SAIC cash-secured put setup
The SAIC 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 SAIC near $92.71, the first option leg uses a $90.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed SAIC 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 SAIC shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $90.00 | $6.25 |
SAIC cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$625.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $625.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$8,374.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $83.75
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.075
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
SAIC cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on SAIC. 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% | -$8,374.00 |
| $20.51 | -77.9% | -$6,324.24 |
| $41.01 | -55.8% | -$4,274.48 |
| $61.50 | -33.7% | -$2,224.72 |
| $82.00 | -11.6% | -$174.96 |
| $102.50 | +10.6% | +$625.00 |
| $123.00 | +32.7% | +$625.00 |
| $143.49 | +54.8% | +$625.00 |
| $163.99 | +76.9% | +$625.00 |
| $184.49 | +99.0% | +$625.00 |
When traders use cash-secured put on SAIC
Cash-secured puts on SAIC earn premium while a trader waits to acquire SAIC stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning SAIC.
SAIC thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for SAIC extends from approximately $80.88 on the downside to $104.54 on the upside. A SAIC cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire SAIC 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 SAIC IV rank near 60.64% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the cash-secured put thesis on SAIC should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Technology name, SAIC options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to SAIC-specific events.
SAIC 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. SAIC positions also carry Technology sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move SAIC alongside the broader basket even when SAIC-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on SAIC carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical SAIC earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current SAIC chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on SAIC?
- A cash-secured put on SAIC is the cash-secured put strategy applied to SAIC (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 SAIC stock trading near $92.71, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed SAIC chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are SAIC 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 SAIC cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 44.50%), the computed maximum profit is $625.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$8,374.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a SAIC cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the SAIC cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $83.75 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 SAIC market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 12.76%; 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 SAIC?
- Cash-secured puts on SAIC earn premium while a trader waits to acquire SAIC stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning SAIC.
- How does current SAIC implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- SAIC ATM IV is at 44.50% with IV rank near 60.64%, 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.