SU Covered Call Strategy
SU (Suncor Energy Inc.), in the Energy sector, (Oil & Gas Integrated industry), listed on NYSE.
Suncor Energy Inc. operates as an integrated energy company. The company primarily focuses on developing petroleum resource basins in Canada's Athabasca oil sands; explores, acquires, develops, produces, transports, refines, and markets crude oil in Canada and internationally; markets petroleum and petrochemical products under the Petro-Canada name primarily in Canada. It operates through Oil Sands; Exploration and Production; Refining and Marketing; and Corporate and Eliminations segments. The Oil Sands segment recovers bitumen from mining and in situ operations, and upgrades it into refinery feedstock and diesel fuel, or blends the bitumen with diluent for direct sale to market. The Exploration and Production segment is involved in offshore operations off the east coast of Canada and in the North Sea; and operating onshore assets in Libya and Syria. The Refining and Marketing segment refines crude oil and intermediate feedstock into various petroleum and petrochemical products; and markets refined petroleum products to retail, commercial, and industrial customers through its other retail sellers.
SU (Suncor Energy Inc.) trades in the Energy sector, specifically Oil & Gas Integrated, with a market capitalization of approximately $78.42B, a trailing P/E of 17.02, a beta of 0.59 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 34.67-70.29, average daily share volume of 4.8M, a public-listing history dating back to 1980, approximately 15K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how SU stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.59 indicates SU has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. SU pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a covered call on SU?
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 SU snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $67.97, ATM IV 32.20%, IV rank 57.34%, expected move 9.23%. The covered call on SU 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 28-day expiry.
Why this covered call structure on SU specifically: SU IV at 32.20% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so the credit collected on a SU covered call sits in line with its long-run distribution, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 9.23% (roughly $6.27 on the underlying). The 28-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated SU expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on SU should anchor to the underlying notional of $67.97 per share and to the trader's directional view on SU stock.
SU covered call setup
The SU 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 SU near $67.97, the first option leg uses a $71.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed SU chain at a 28-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 SU shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 100 shares | Stock | $67.97 | long |
| Sell 1 | Call | $71.00 | $1.18 |
SU covered call risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$6,679.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $420.50
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$6,678.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $66.80
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.063
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.
SU covered call payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the covered call on SU. 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% | -$6,678.50 |
| $15.04 | -77.9% | -$5,175.76 |
| $30.06 | -55.8% | -$3,673.01 |
| $45.09 | -33.7% | -$2,170.27 |
| $60.12 | -11.5% | -$667.53 |
| $75.15 | +10.6% | +$420.50 |
| $90.17 | +32.7% | +$420.50 |
| $105.20 | +54.8% | +$420.50 |
| $120.23 | +76.9% | +$420.50 |
| $135.26 | +99.0% | +$420.50 |
When traders use covered call on SU
Covered calls on SU are an income strategy run on existing SU stock positions; traders typically sell calls at 25-35 delta with 30-45 days to expiration to balance premium against upside cap.
SU thesis for this covered call
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for SU extends from approximately $61.70 on the downside to $74.24 on the upside. A SU covered call collects premium on an existing long SU position, trading off upside above the short call strike for immediate income; the short strike selection should reflect the trader's view on whether SU will breach that level within the expiration window. Current SU IV rank near 57.34% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the covered call thesis on SU should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Energy name, SU options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to SU-specific events.
SU 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. SU positions also carry Energy sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move SU alongside the broader basket even when SU-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a covered call on SU carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical SU earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current SU chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a covered call on SU?
- A covered call on SU is the covered call strategy applied to SU (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 SU stock trading near $67.97, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed SU chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are SU 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 SU covered call priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 32.20%), the computed maximum profit is $420.50 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$6,678.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a SU covered call?
- The breakeven for the SU covered call priced on this page is roughly $66.80 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 SU market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 9.23%; 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 SU?
- Covered calls on SU are an income strategy run on existing SU 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 SU implied volatility affect this covered call?
- SU ATM IV is at 32.20% with IV rank near 57.34%, 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.