UTI Collar Strategy
UTI (Universal Technical Institute, Inc.), in the Consumer Defensive sector, (Education & Training Services industry), listed on NYSE.
Universal Technical Institute, Inc. provides transportation and technical training programs in the United States. The company provides postsecondary education for students seeking careers as professional automotive, diesel, collision repair, motorcycle, and marine technicians. It also offers certificate, diploma, or degree programs under various brands, such as Universal Technical Institute, Motorcycle Mechanics Institute and Marine Mechanics Institute, and NASCAR Technical Institute. In addition, the company provides manufacturer specific advanced training programs, including student paid electives at its campuses; and manufacturer or dealer sponsored training at various campuses and dedicated training centers, as well as offers programs for welding and computer numeric control machining. As of September 30, 2021, it operated 12 campuses. Universal Technical Institute, Inc. was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.
UTI (Universal Technical Institute, Inc.) trades in the Consumer Defensive sector, specifically Education & Training Services, with a market capitalization of approximately $2.19B, a trailing P/E of 51.04, a beta of 1.28 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 21.29-40.41, average daily share volume of 709K, a public-listing history dating back to 2003, approximately 4K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how UTI stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.28 places UTI roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline. The trailing P/E of 51.04 is on the rich side, which tends to correlate with higher earnings-window IV expansion as the market debates whether forward growth supports the multiple.
What is a collar on UTI?
A collar pairs long stock with a protective out-of-the-money put financed by a short out-of-the-money call, capping both tails of the position around the current spot.
Current UTI snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $40.04, ATM IV 40.40%, IV rank 13.67%, expected move 11.58%. The collar on UTI 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 collar structure on UTI specifically: IV regime affects collar pricing on both sides; compressed UTI IV at 40.40% typically pushes the short call premium to roughly offset the long put cost, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 11.58% (roughly $4.64 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 UTI expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on UTI should anchor to the underlying notional of $40.04 per share and to the trader's directional view on UTI stock.
UTI collar setup
The UTI collar below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With UTI near $40.04, the first option leg uses a $42.04 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed UTI 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 UTI shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 100 shares | Stock | $40.04 | long |
| Sell 1 | Call | $42.04 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Put | $38.04 | N/A |
UTI collar risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- N/A
- Max Profit (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Max Loss (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Breakeven(s)
- None on modeled curve
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- N/A
Max profit roughly equals short-call strike minus cost basis plus net premium; max loss roughly equals cost basis minus long-put strike minus net premium. Breakeven shifts by the net premium.
UTI collar payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the collar on UTI. 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.
When traders use collar on UTI
Collars on UTI hedge an existing long UTI stock position; the long put sets a floor while the short call finances it, often run as a near-zero-cost hedge during expected volatility windows.
UTI thesis for this collar
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for UTI extends from approximately $35.40 on the downside to $44.68 on the upside. A UTI collar hedges an existing long UTI position with a protective put while financing the put cost via a short call; when the premiums roughly offset, the collar acts as a near-zero-cost insurance band around the current spot. Current UTI IV rank near 13.67% 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 UTI at 40.40%. As a Consumer Defensive name, UTI options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to UTI-specific events.
UTI collar positions are structurally neutral (protective); 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. UTI positions also carry Consumer Defensive sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move UTI alongside the broader basket even when UTI-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current UTI chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a collar on UTI?
- A collar on UTI is the collar strategy applied to UTI (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral (protective): A collar pairs long stock with a protective out-of-the-money put financed by a short out-of-the-money call, capping both tails of the position around the current spot. With UTI stock trading near $40.04, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed UTI chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are UTI collar max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit roughly equals short-call strike minus cost basis plus net premium; max loss roughly equals cost basis minus long-put strike minus net premium. Breakeven shifts by the net premium. For the UTI collar priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 40.40%), the computed maximum profit is unbounded per contract and the computed maximum loss is unbounded per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a UTI collar?
- The breakeven for the UTI collar priced on this page is no defined breakeven on the modeled curve 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 UTI market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 11.58%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a collar on UTI?
- Collars on UTI hedge an existing long UTI stock position; the long put sets a floor while the short call finances it, often run as a near-zero-cost hedge during expected volatility windows.
- How does current UTI implied volatility affect this collar?
- UTI ATM IV is at 40.40% with IV rank near 13.67%, 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.