SCI Strangle Strategy
SCI (Service Corporation International), in the Consumer Cyclical sector, (Personal Products & Services industry), listed on NYSE.
Service Corporation International (SCI) is a leading provider of comprehensive end-of-life products and services across the United States and Canada. The company structures its extensive operations into two primary divisions: Funeral Services and Cemetery Operations. SCI's physical footprint encompasses a vast network of funeral homes, cemeteries, and crematories, including numerous integrated locations that offer both funeral and cemetery services. Their professional offerings span the entire funeral and cremation process, from the logistical aspects of facility and vehicle use to the compassionate arrangement and direction of services. This includes essential tasks such as removal, preparation, embalming, and cremation, alongside memorialization options, travel protection plans, and catering. Clients can also procure a wide array of funeral merchandise.
SCI (Service Corporation International) trades in the Consumer Cyclical sector, specifically Personal Products & Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $10.46B, a trailing P/E of 16.82, a beta of 0.85 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 68.41-88.67, average daily share volume of 1.5M, a public-listing history dating back to 1980, approximately 25K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how SCI stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.85 places SCI roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. SCI pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a strangle on SCI?
A long strangle buys an OTM call and an OTM put at offset strikes, cheaper than a straddle but requiring a larger underlying move to profit since both wings start out-of-the-money.
Current SCI snapshot
As of June 30, 2026, spot at $76.28, ATM IV 25.30%, IV rank 32.27%, expected move 7.25%. The strangle on SCI 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 17-day expiry.
Why this strangle structure on SCI specifically: SCI IV at 25.30% 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 7.25% (roughly $5.53 on the underlying). The 17-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated SCI expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on SCI should anchor to the underlying notional of $76.28 per share and to the trader's directional view on SCI stock.
SCI strangle setup
The SCI strangle below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With SCI near $76.28, the first option leg uses a $80.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed SCI chain at a 17-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 SCI shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $80.00 | $0.53 |
| Buy 1 | Put | $72.50 | $0.55 |
SCI strangle risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$107.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$107.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $71.43, $81.08
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- Unbounded
Upside max profit is unbounded; downside max profit is bounded at the put strike minus the combined debit (reached at zero). Max loss equals the combined debit times 100 (reached anywhere between the two OTM strikes). Two breakevens at call-strike plus debit and put-strike minus debit.
SCI strangle payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the strangle on SCI. 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% | +$7,141.50 |
| $16.87 | -77.9% | +$5,455.02 |
| $33.74 | -55.8% | +$3,768.54 |
| $50.60 | -33.7% | +$2,082.05 |
| $67.47 | -11.6% | +$395.57 |
| $84.33 | +10.6% | +$325.91 |
| $101.20 | +32.7% | +$2,012.39 |
| $118.06 | +54.8% | +$3,698.88 |
| $134.93 | +76.9% | +$5,385.36 |
| $151.79 | +99.0% | +$7,071.84 |
When traders use strangle on SCI
Strangles on SCI are the cheaper cousin of the straddle - traders use them when they want a large directional move but are willing to give up the inner-strike sensitivity in exchange for a lower up-front debit on the SCI chain.
SCI thesis for this strangle
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for SCI extends from approximately $70.75 on the downside to $81.81 on the upside. A SCI long strangle is the OTM cousin of the straddle: lower up-front cost but the underlying has to travel further past either OTM strike before the position turns profitable at expiration. Current SCI IV rank near 32.27% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the strangle thesis on SCI should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Consumer Cyclical name, SCI options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to SCI-specific events.
SCI strangle positions are structurally neutral / high-volatility (long premium, OTM); 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. SCI positions also carry Consumer Cyclical sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move SCI alongside the broader basket even when SCI-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current SCI chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a strangle on SCI?
- A strangle on SCI is the strangle strategy applied to SCI (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral / high-volatility (long premium, OTM): A long strangle buys an OTM call and an OTM put at offset strikes, cheaper than a straddle but requiring a larger underlying move to profit since both wings start out-of-the-money. With SCI stock trading near $76.28, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed SCI chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are SCI strangle max profit and max loss calculated?
- Upside max profit is unbounded; downside max profit is bounded at the put strike minus the combined debit (reached at zero). Max loss equals the combined debit times 100 (reached anywhere between the two OTM strikes). Two breakevens at call-strike plus debit and put-strike minus debit. For the SCI strangle priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 25.30%), the computed maximum profit is unbounded per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$107.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a SCI strangle?
- The breakeven for the SCI strangle priced on this page is roughly $71.43 and $81.08 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 SCI market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 7.25%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a strangle on SCI?
- Strangles on SCI are the cheaper cousin of the straddle - traders use them when they want a large directional move but are willing to give up the inner-strike sensitivity in exchange for a lower up-front debit on the SCI chain.
- How does current SCI implied volatility affect this strangle?
- SCI ATM IV is at 25.30% with IV rank near 32.27%, 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.