UNF Cash-Secured Put Strategy
UNF (UniFirst Corporation), in the Industrials sector, (Specialty Business Services industry), listed on NYSE.
UniFirst Corporation provides workplace uniforms and protective work wear clothing in the United States, Europe, and Canada. The company operates through U.S. and Canadian Rental and Cleaning, Manufacturing, Specialty Garments Rental and Cleaning, and First Aid segments. It designs, manufactures, personalizes, rents, cleans, delivers, and sells a range of uniforms and protective clothing, including shirts, pants, jackets, coveralls, lab coats, smocks, and aprons; and specialized protective wear, such as flame resistant and high visibility garments. The company also rents and sells industrial wiping products, floor mats, facility service products, and dry and wet mops; restroom and cleaning supplies comprising air fresheners, paper products, gloves, masks, sanitizers, and hand soaps; and other textile products. In addition, it provides first aid cabinet services and other safety supplies; decontaminates and cleans work clothes, and other items that is exposed to radioactive materials; and services special cleanroom protective wear and facilities. Further, it offers a range of garment service options, including full-service rental programs in which garments are cleaned and serviced; lease programs in which garments are cleaned and maintained by individual employees; and purchase programs to buy garments and related items directly.
UNF (UniFirst Corporation) trades in the Industrials sector, specifically Specialty Business Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $4.69B, a trailing P/E of 32.98, a beta of 0.63 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 147.66-283.77, average daily share volume of 311K, a public-listing history dating back to 1984, approximately 16K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how UNF stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.63 indicates UNF has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. UNF 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 UNF?
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 UNF snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $262.44, ATM IV 23.50%, IV rank 3.10%, expected move 6.74%. The cash-secured put on UNF 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 cash-secured put structure on UNF specifically: UNF IV at 23.50% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which means a premium-selling UNF cash-secured put collects less credit per unit of strike-width risk, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 6.74% (roughly $17.68 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 UNF expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on UNF should anchor to the underlying notional of $262.44 per share and to the trader's directional view on UNF stock.
UNF cash-secured put setup
The UNF 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 UNF near $262.44, the first option leg uses a $250.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed UNF 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 UNF shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $250.00 | $3.23 |
UNF cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$322.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $322.50
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$24,676.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $246.78
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.013
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
UNF cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on UNF. 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% | -$24,676.50 |
| $58.04 | -77.9% | -$18,873.92 |
| $116.06 | -55.8% | -$13,071.33 |
| $174.09 | -33.7% | -$7,268.75 |
| $232.11 | -11.6% | -$1,466.17 |
| $290.14 | +10.6% | +$322.50 |
| $348.16 | +32.7% | +$322.50 |
| $406.19 | +54.8% | +$322.50 |
| $464.22 | +76.9% | +$322.50 |
| $522.24 | +99.0% | +$322.50 |
When traders use cash-secured put on UNF
Cash-secured puts on UNF earn premium while a trader waits to acquire UNF stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning UNF.
UNF thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for UNF extends from approximately $244.76 on the downside to $280.12 on the upside. A UNF cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire UNF 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 UNF IV rank near 3.10% 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 UNF at 23.50%. As a Industrials name, UNF options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to UNF-specific events.
UNF 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. UNF positions also carry Industrials sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move UNF alongside the broader basket even when UNF-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on UNF carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical UNF earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current UNF chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on UNF?
- A cash-secured put on UNF is the cash-secured put strategy applied to UNF (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 UNF stock trading near $262.44, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed UNF chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are UNF 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 UNF cash-secured put priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 23.50%), the computed maximum profit is $322.50 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$24,676.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a UNF cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the UNF cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $246.78 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 UNF market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 6.74%; 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 UNF?
- Cash-secured puts on UNF earn premium while a trader waits to acquire UNF stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning UNF.
- How does current UNF implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- UNF ATM IV is at 23.50% with IV rank near 3.10%, 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.