WLDN Butterfly Strategy
WLDN (Willdan Group, Inc.), in the Industrials sector, (Engineering & Construction industry), listed on NASDAQ.
Willdan Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides professional, technical and consulting services primarily in the United States. It operates in two segments, Energy, and Engineering and Consulting. The Energy segment offers comprehensive audit and surveys, program design, master planning, demand reduction, grid optimization, benchmarking analyses, design engineering, construction management, performance contracting, installation, alternative financing, and measurement and verification services, as well as software and data analytics. The Engineering and Consulting segment provides building and safety, city engineering and code enforcement, development plan review and inspection, disaster recovery, geotechnical and earthquake engineering, planning and surveying, contract staff support, program and construction management, structural engineering, transportation and traffic engineering, and water resources services. This segment also offers district administration, financial consulting, and federal compliance services; and communications and technology services. It serves public and governmental agencies, including cities, counties, redevelopment agencies, water districts, school districts, and universities; investor and municipal owned energy utilities; state and federal agencies; and commercial and industrial firms, as well as various other special districts and agencies.
WLDN (Willdan Group, Inc.) trades in the Industrials sector, specifically Engineering & Construction, with a market capitalization of approximately $1.38B, a trailing P/E of 23.80, a beta of 1.07 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 45.24-137, average daily share volume of 374K, a public-listing history dating back to 2006, approximately 2K full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how WLDN stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 1.07 places WLDN roughly in line with broader market moves, so the strategy payoff and realized volatility track the index-equivalent baseline.
What is a butterfly on WLDN?
A long call butterfly buys one lower-strike call, sells two ATM calls, and buys one higher-strike call, paying a small net debit for a defined-risk position that maxes out if the underlying pins the middle strike at expiration.
Current WLDN snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $91.91, ATM IV 61.10%, IV rank 33.63%, expected move 17.52%. The butterfly on WLDN 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 98-day expiry.
Why this butterfly structure on WLDN specifically: WLDN IV at 61.10% is mid-range versus its 1-year history, so strategy selection should anchor more to the directional thesis than to the IV regime, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 17.52% (roughly $16.10 on the underlying). The 98-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated WLDN expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on WLDN should anchor to the underlying notional of $91.91 per share and to the trader's directional view on WLDN stock.
WLDN butterfly setup
The WLDN butterfly below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With WLDN near $91.91, the first option leg uses a $85.00 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed WLDN chain at a 98-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 WLDN shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 1 | Call | $85.00 | $15.75 |
| Sell 2 | Call | $90.00 | $13.35 |
| Buy 1 | Call | $95.00 | $10.70 |
WLDN butterfly risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- +$25.00
- Max Profit (per contract)
- $485.58
- Max Loss (per contract)
- $25.00
- Breakeven(s)
- None on modeled curve
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- 19.423
Max profit equals the wing width minus net debit times 100 (reached when the underlying pins the middle strike); max loss equals the net debit times 100. Two breakevens at lower-wing plus debit and upper-wing minus debit.
WLDN butterfly payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the butterfly on WLDN. 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% | +$25.00 |
| $20.33 | -77.9% | +$25.00 |
| $40.65 | -55.8% | +$25.00 |
| $60.97 | -33.7% | +$25.00 |
| $81.29 | -11.6% | +$25.00 |
| $101.61 | +10.6% | +$25.00 |
| $121.93 | +32.7% | +$25.00 |
| $142.25 | +54.8% | +$25.00 |
| $162.58 | +76.9% | +$25.00 |
| $182.90 | +99.0% | +$25.00 |
When traders use butterfly on WLDN
Butterflies on WLDN are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect WLDN to settle near a specific level at expiration (often the prior close, a round number, or the max-pain strike) and want defined-risk exposure to that outcome.
WLDN thesis for this butterfly
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for WLDN extends from approximately $75.81 on the downside to $108.01 on the upside. A WLDN long call butterfly is a pinning play: it pays maximum at the middle strike if WLDN settles there at expiration, with the wing legs capping both the cost and the maximum loss to the net debit. Current WLDN IV rank near 33.63% is mid-range against its 1-year distribution, so the IV signal is neutral; the butterfly thesis on WLDN should anchor more to the directional view and the expected-move geometry. As a Industrials name, WLDN options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to WLDN-specific events.
WLDN butterfly positions are structurally neutral / pin (limited-risk, limited-reward); 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. WLDN positions also carry Industrials sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move WLDN alongside the broader basket even when WLDN-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current WLDN chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a butterfly on WLDN?
- A butterfly on WLDN is the butterfly strategy applied to WLDN (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral / pin (limited-risk, limited-reward): A long call butterfly buys one lower-strike call, sells two ATM calls, and buys one higher-strike call, paying a small net debit for a defined-risk position that maxes out if the underlying pins the middle strike at expiration. With WLDN stock trading near $91.91, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed WLDN chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are WLDN butterfly max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit equals the wing width minus net debit times 100 (reached when the underlying pins the middle strike); max loss equals the net debit times 100. Two breakevens at lower-wing plus debit and upper-wing minus debit. For the WLDN butterfly priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 61.10%), the computed maximum profit is $485.58 per contract and the computed maximum loss is $25.00 per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a WLDN butterfly?
- The breakeven for the WLDN butterfly 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 WLDN market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 17.52%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a butterfly on WLDN?
- Butterflies on WLDN are pinning bets - traders use them when they expect WLDN to settle near a specific level at expiration (often the prior close, a round number, or the max-pain strike) and want defined-risk exposure to that outcome.
- How does current WLDN implied volatility affect this butterfly?
- WLDN ATM IV is at 61.10% with IV rank near 33.63%, 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.