Markets· August 17, 2026 at 01:15 p.m.
Alphabet Stock Offers Attractive Short-Put Yields for Investors
Key takeaways
- Alphabet Inc.'s (GOOGL, GOOG) stock has been treading water for three months
- Investors can earn a one-month yield of 1.50% by shorting out-of-the-money cash-secured puts
- The potential upside for value investors is between $428 and $455, or $441.50
Alphabet Inc.'s (GOOGL, GOOG) stock has been treading water for the past three months, attracting short-put investors due to attractive one-month yields. As of August 14, GOOGL closed at $345.90, down from a recent high of $377.65 on Aug. 4 but up from a trough of $317.69 on July 23. Analysts have higher stock price targets, with an average of $428.04 or +23.7%, and Barchart's mean survey PT at $430.56 (+24.5%).
Investors can take advantage of this by shorting out-of-the-money (OTM) cash-secured puts, such as the Sept. 18 expiry period put option chain with a midpoint premium of $4.95 for the $330.00 strike price. This offers a one-month yield of 1.50%.
The delta ratio is low at -0.265, implying just a 26.5% rough likelihood that GOOGL will drop to $330 by Sept. 18. The potential upside for value investors using this method to buy GOOGL shares is between $428 and $455, or $441.50, while the downside risk is an unrealized loss that could be mitigated by holding on, waiting for the stock to rise, or selling short covered calls at higher prices.
