CSCO Covered Call
Every out-of-the-money CSCO call expiring Oct 23, 2026, priced from the settled chain: what it pays, what it yields, and where the trade stops making money. The richest right now is the $111.00 strike at 2.6% over 36 days.
Open interest and pricing as of the close on 2026-09-16. Recomputed every morning before the open.
CSCO covered call candidates — Oct 23, 2026, 36 days out
Strikes are picked by distance from the $107.74 share price, not by delta — the published chain carries premiums and open interest, not greeks, and inventing a delta here would be inventing data. Premium is the bid/ask midpoint where both sides quote, otherwise the last trade. The chain artifact publishes the six nearest expirations, so this is the longest one listed — 36 days out. Annualising anything shorter than a week says more about compounding arithmetic than about the trade, so those cells stay blank.
| Strike | % OTM | Premium | Yield | Annualised | Break-even | If assigned | OI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $111.00 | 3.0% | $2.80 | 2.6% | 26.3% | $104.94 | 5.6% | 15 |
| $113.00 | 4.9% | $2.04 | 1.9% | 19.2% | $105.71 | 6.8% | 19 |
| $119.00 | 10.5% | $0.85 | 0.8% | 8.0% | $106.89 | 11.2% | 4 |
What the $111.00 call pays at expiration
One illustrative strike — the richest premium in the table — against 100 shares bought at $107.74. Profit caps at $606.00 if CSCO finishes above $111.00; below $104.94 the premium stops covering the loss on the stock.
| Stock at expiration | Profit / loss per share | On 100 shares |
|---|---|---|
| $80.80 | $-24.14 | $-2,413.50 |
| $87.54 | $-17.40 | $-1,740.13 |
| $94.27 | $-10.67 | $-1,066.75 |
| $101.01 | $-3.93 | $-393.38 |
| $107.74 | +$2.80 | +$280.00 |
| $114.47 | +$6.06 | +$606.00 |
| $121.21 | +$6.06 | +$606.00 |
| $127.94 | +$6.06 | +$606.00 |
| $134.67 | +$6.06 | +$606.00 |
When a covered call fits CSCO
A covered call sells someone else the right to buy your shares at the strike. It pays you today and caps your upside there, so it suits a holding you are content to own flat and content to sell at the strike — not one you expect to run.
The premium is compensation for implied volatility. Rich implied volatility pays more, and usually pays more because the market expects a move; a high annualised number on a name about to report earnings is a warning as often as an opportunity. Check the CSCO expected move and the open-interest walls before assuming the strike is far enough away.
Full mechanics, assignment and rolling are in the covered call guide; to model a different strike or a multi-leg version, open the profit calculator with CSCO loaded.
Questions
- What does a CSCO covered call pay right now?
- The $111.00 call expiring Oct 23, 2026 (36 days out) collects $2.80 per share, 2.6% of the $107.74 share price, or 26.3% annualised if you repeat it.
- What is the break-even on a CSCO covered call?
- Selling the $111.00 call against stock bought at $107.74 breaks even at $104.94 — the share price less the premium. Below that the premium no longer covers the loss on the shares.
- What happens if CSCO closes above the strike?
- The shares are called away at $111.00. Total return is 5.6%: the premium plus the move from $107.74 up to the strike. Gains above the strike belong to the buyer.
More on CSCO
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Educational, not investment advice. Options involve risk. Open interest is reported with a one-session lag by OCC, so these levels describe positioning as of the last settled session, not live intraday flow.