URI Covered Call Strategy
URI (United Rentals, Inc.), in the Industrials sector, (Rental & Leasing Services industry), listed on NYSE.
United Rentals, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as an equipment rental company. It operates in two segments, General Rentals and Specialty. The General Rentals segment rents general construction and industrial equipment includes backhoes, skid-steer loaders, forklifts, earthmoving equipment, and material handling equipment; aerial work platforms, such as boom and scissor lifts; and general tools and light equipment comprising pressure washers, water pumps, and power tools for construction and industrial companies, manufacturers, utilities, municipalities, homeowners, and government entities. The specialty segment rents specialty construction products, including trench safety equipment consists of trench shields, aluminum hydraulic shoring systems, slide rails, crossing plates, construction lasers, and line testing equipment for underground work; power and heating, ventilating, and air conditioning equipment, such as portable diesel generators, electrical distribution equipment, and temperature control equipment; fluid solutions equipment for fluid containment, transfer, and treatment; and mobile storage equipment and modular office space. This segment serves construction companies involved in infrastructure projects, and municipalities and industrial companies. It also sells aerial lifts, reach forklifts, telehandlers, compressors, and generators; construction consumables, tools, small equipment, and safety supplies; and parts for equipment that is owned by its customers, as well as provides repair and maintenance services.
URI (United Rentals, Inc.) trades in the Industrials sector, specifically Rental & Leasing Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $58.59B, a trailing P/E of 23.65, a beta of 1.83 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 681.98-1021.47, average daily share volume of 588K, a public-listing history dating back to 1997, approximately 28K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how URI stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.83 indicates URI has historically moved more than the broader market, amplifying both the directional payoff and the realized volatility relative to an index-equivalent position. URI pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a covered call on URI?
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 URI snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $966.88, ATM IV 31.75%, IV rank 25.12%, expected move 9.10%. The covered call on URI 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 URI specifically: URI IV at 31.75% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which means a premium-selling URI covered call collects less credit per unit of strike-width risk, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 9.10% (roughly $88.01 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 URI expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on URI should anchor to the underlying notional of $966.88 per share and to the trader's directional view on URI stock.
URI covered call setup
The URI 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 URI near $966.88, the first option leg uses a $1,020.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed URI 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 URI shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 100 shares | Stock | $966.88 | long |
| Sell 1 | Call | $1,020.00 | $14.30 |
URI covered call risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- -$95,258.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $6,742.00
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$95,257.00
- Breakeven(s)
- $952.58
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.071
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.
URI covered call payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the covered call on URI. 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% | -$95,257.00 |
| $213.79 | -77.9% | -$73,878.86 |
| $427.57 | -55.8% | -$52,500.72 |
| $641.35 | -33.7% | -$31,122.58 |
| $855.14 | -11.6% | -$9,744.44 |
| $1,068.92 | +10.6% | +$6,742.00 |
| $1,282.70 | +32.7% | +$6,742.00 |
| $1,496.48 | +54.8% | +$6,742.00 |
| $1,710.26 | +76.9% | +$6,742.00 |
| $1,924.04 | +99.0% | +$6,742.00 |
When traders use covered call on URI
Covered calls on URI are an income strategy run on existing URI stock positions; traders typically sell calls at 25-35 delta with 30-45 days to expiration to balance premium against upside cap.
URI thesis for this covered call
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for URI extends from approximately $878.87 on the downside to $1,054.89 on the upside. A URI covered call collects premium on an existing long URI position, trading off upside above the short call strike for immediate income; the short strike selection should reflect the trader's view on whether URI will breach that level within the expiration window. Current URI IV rank near 25.12% 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 URI at 31.75%. As a Industrials name, URI options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to URI-specific events.
URI 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. URI positions also carry Industrials sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move URI alongside the broader basket even when URI-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a covered call on URI carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical URI earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current URI chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a covered call on URI?
- A covered call on URI is the covered call strategy applied to URI (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 URI stock trading near $966.88, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed URI chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are URI 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 URI covered call priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 31.75%), the computed maximum profit is $6,742.00 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$95,257.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a URI covered call?
- The breakeven for the URI covered call priced on this page is roughly $952.58 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 URI market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 9.10%; 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 URI?
- Covered calls on URI are an income strategy run on existing URI 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 URI implied volatility affect this covered call?
- URI ATM IV is at 31.75% with IV rank near 25.12%, 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.