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Investors eyeing a purchase of Epam Systems, Inc. (Symbol: EPAM) shares, but cautious about paying the going market price of $192.09/share, might benefit from considering selling puts among the alternative strategies at their disposal. One interesting put contract in particular, is the December put at the $180 strike, which has a bid at the time of this writing of $12.00. Collecting that bid as the premium represents a 6.7% return against the $180 commitment, or a 15.1% annualized rate of return (at Stock Options Channel we call this the YieldBoost).

Selling a put does not give an investor access to EPAM's upside potential the way owning shares would, because the put seller only ends up owning shares in the scenario where the contract is exercised. And the person on the other side of the contract would only benefit from exercising at the $180 strike if doing so produced a better outcome than selling at the going market price. (Do options carry counterparty risk? This and six other common options myths debunked). So unless Epam Systems, Inc. sees its shares decline 6.2% and the contract is exercised (resulting in a cost basis of $168.00 per share before broker commissions, subtracting the $12.00 from $180), the only upside to the put seller is from collecting that premium for the 15.1% annualized rate of return.

Below is a chart showing the trailing twelve month trading history for Epam Systems, Inc., and highlighting in green where the $180 strike is located relative to that history:

The chart above, and the stock's historical volatility, can be a helpful guide in combination with fundamental analysis to judge whether selling the December put at the $180 strike for the 15.1% annualized rate of return represents good reward for the risks. We calculate the trailing twelve month volatility for Epam Systems, Inc. (considering the last 251 trading day closing values as well as today's price of $192.09) to be 44%. For other put options contract ideas at the various different available expirations, visit the EPAM Stock Options page of StockOptionsChannel.com.

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Also see:

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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.