USFD Cash-Secured Put Strategy
USFD (US Foods Holding Corp.), in the Consumer Defensive sector, (Food Distribution industry), listed on NYSE.
US Foods Holding Corp., operating primarily via its subsidiary, US Foods, Inc., is a key marketer and distributor within the United States foodservice market, offering an extensive selection of fresh, frozen, and dry food products alongside various non-food supplies. Its clientele is highly diversified, encompassing independent single and multi-location dining establishments, regional culinary ventures, national restaurant chains, institutional accounts such as hospitals, nursing homes, hotels, motels, country clubs, government and military entities, academic institutions, and certain retail businesses. Data from July 6, 2022, shows the company's operational infrastructure included 70 broadline facilities and 80 cash-and-carry sites. Formed in 2007, US Foods Holding Corp. transitioned from its previous designation, USF Holding Corp., to its current name in February 2016, and maintains its corporate headquarters in Rosemont, Illinois.
USFD (US Foods Holding Corp.) trades in the Consumer Defensive sector, specifically Food Distribution, with a market capitalization of approximately $24.43B, a trailing P/E of 33.31, a beta of 0.82 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 69.875-111.42, average daily share volume of 2.6M, a public-listing history dating back to 2016, approximately 30K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how USFD stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.82 places USFD roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline.
What is a cash-secured put on USFD?
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.
USFD snapshot
As of August 14, 2026, spot at $108.81, ATM IV 24.70%, IV rank 24.02%, expected move 7.08%. The cash-secured put on USFD below is built from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain, with strikes snapped to listed contracts and premiums pulled from the bid/ask midpoint at a 35-day expiry.
Why this cash-secured put structure on USFD specifically: USFD IV at 24.70% is on the cheap side of its 1-year range, which means a premium-selling USFD cash-secured put collects less credit per unit of strike-width risk, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 7.08% (roughly $7.71 on the underlying). The 35-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated USFD expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on USFD should anchor to the underlying notional of $108.81 per share and to the trader's directional view on USFD stock.
USFD cash-secured put setup
The USFD cash-secured put below is built from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With USFD at $108.81 on that close, the first option leg uses a $105.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed USFD chain at a 35-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 USFD shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell 1 | Put | $105.00 | $1.83 |
USFD cash-secured put risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$182.50
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $182.50
- Max Loss (per contract)
- -$10,316.50
- Breakeven(s)
- $103.18
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 0.018
Max profit equals premium times 100; max loss equals strike minus premium times 100 (at zero, assuming assignment). Breakeven is strike minus premium.
USFD cash-secured put payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the cash-secured put on USFD. 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% | -$10,316.50 |
| $24.07 | -77.9% | -$7,910.76 |
| $48.12 | -55.8% | -$5,505.02 |
| $72.18 | -33.7% | -$3,099.28 |
| $96.24 | -11.6% | -$693.55 |
| $120.30 | +10.6% | +$182.50 |
| $144.35 | +32.7% | +$182.50 |
| $168.41 | +54.8% | +$182.50 |
| $192.47 | +76.9% | +$182.50 |
| $216.53 | +99.0% | +$182.50 |
When traders use cash-secured put on USFD
Cash-secured puts on USFD earn premium while a trader waits to acquire USFD stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning USFD.
USFD thesis for this cash-secured put
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for USFD extends from approximately $101.10 on the downside to $116.52 on the upside. A USFD cash-secured put lets a trader earn premium while waiting to acquire USFD 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 USFD IV rank near 24.02% 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 USFD at 24.70%. As a Consumer Defensive name, USFD options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to USFD-specific events.
USFD 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. USFD positions also carry Consumer Defensive sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move USFD alongside the broader basket even when USFD-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Short-premium structures like a cash-secured put on USFD carry tail risk when realized volatility exceeds the implied move; review historical USFD earnings reactions and macro stress periods before sizing. Always rebuild the position from current USFD chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a cash-secured put on USFD?
- A cash-secured put on USFD is the cash-secured put strategy applied to USFD (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 USFD stock at $108.81 on the August 14, 2026 close, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed USFD chain strike and the premiums come straight from that session's bid/ask midpoint.
- How are USFD 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 USFD cash-secured put priced from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 24.70%), the computed maximum profit is $182.50 per contract and the computed maximum loss is -$10,316.50 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a USFD cash-secured put?
- The breakeven for the USFD cash-secured put priced on this page is roughly $103.18 at expiration, derived from the August 14, 2026 end-of-day chain's premiums. Breakeven is the underlying price at which the strategy's P&L crosses zero ignoring transaction costs and assignment risk. The USFD market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move in the same options snapshot is approximately 7.08%; 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 USFD?
- Cash-secured puts on USFD earn premium while a trader waits to acquire USFD stock at a target strike below the current quote; most attractive when IV is rich and the trader is comfortable owning USFD.
- How does current USFD implied volatility affect this cash-secured put?
- USFD ATM IV is at 24.70% with IV rank near 24.02%, 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.