SAIC Long 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 long put on SAIC?
A long put buys downside exposure with a fixed maximum loss equal to the premium paid; profit accrues if the underlying closes below the strike minus premium at expiration.
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 long 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 long put structure on SAIC specifically: SAIC IV at 44.50% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so strategy selection should anchor more to the directional thesis than to the IV regime, 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 long put setup
The SAIC long 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 $95.00 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Put | $95.00 | $8.75 |
SAIC long put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$875.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $8,624.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$875.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $86.25
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 9.856
Max profit equals the strike minus premium times 100 (reached at zero); max loss equals the premium times 100. Breakeven is strike minus premium.
SAIC long put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the long 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% | +$8,624.00 |
| $20.51 | -77.9% | +$6,574.24 |
| $41.01 | -55.8% | +$4,524.48 |
| $61.50 | -33.7% | +$2,474.72 |
| $82.00 | -11.6% | +$424.96 |
| $102.50 | +10.6% | -$875.00 |
| $123.00 | +32.7% | -$875.00 |
| $143.49 | +54.8% | -$875.00 |
| $163.99 | +76.9% | -$875.00 |
| $184.49 | +99.0% | -$875.00 |
When traders use long put on SAIC
Long puts on SAIC hedge an existing long SAIC stock position or express a bearish view with defined risk; position sizing typically scales the put notional to the underlying SAIC exposure being hedged.
SAIC thesis for this long 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 long put expresses a directional view that the underlying closes below the strike minus premium at expiration, frequently sized to hedge an existing long SAIC position with one put per 100 shares held. Current SAIC IV rank near 60.64% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the long 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 long put positions are structurally bearish; 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. Long-premium structures like a long put on SAIC are particularly exposed to IV-crush risk through scheduled events (earnings, FDA decisions, central-bank meetings) where IV typically contracts post-event regardless of the directional outcome. Always rebuild the position from current SAIC chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a long put on SAIC?
- A long put on SAIC is the long put strategy applied to SAIC (stock). The strategy is structurally bearish: A long put buys downside exposure with a fixed maximum loss equal to the premium paid; profit accrues if the underlying closes below the strike minus premium at expiration. 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 long put max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit equals the strike minus premium times 100 (reached at zero); max loss equals the premium times 100. Breakeven is strike minus premium. For the SAIC long put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 44.50%), the computed maximum profit is $8,624.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$875.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a SAIC long put?
- The breakeven for the SAIC long put priced on this page is roughly $86.25 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 long put on SAIC?
- Long puts on SAIC hedge an existing long SAIC stock position or express a bearish view with defined risk; position sizing typically scales the put notional to the underlying SAIC exposure being hedged.
- How does current SAIC implied volatility affect this long 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.