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You create a cash-covered put when you write a put and maintain enough cash in your brokerage account to cover the entire risk of holding the position.  Readers of our Weekly Strategist Reports will know that cash covered puts and covered calls are what are called equivalent positions.  That is, for the same stock, strike and expiration, these positions require essentially the same amount of capital and offer very similar risks and rewards. Here we have screened for attractively priced (i.e. overpriced) puts on stocks with above average appreciation potential that also meet the following criteria; minimum per annum yield of 20%, minimum protection (breakeven) of 6%, and a bid/ask spread no wider than 20%. Limiting our search to one put option per stock (the best scoring), our screener came up with 29 candidates, among them: 

 

Company

Stock Ticker

Stock Price

Industry

Per Annum Return

Protection

Atlas Air Worldwide

AAWW

57.61

Air Transport

25%

12%

Health Net

HNT

24.01

Medical Services

28%

8%

Plantronics Inc.

PLT

31.3

Electronics

38%

7%

Strayer Education

STRA

215.07

Educational Services

31%

9%

Tyson Foods 'A'

TSN

17.78

Food Processing

26%

6%

 

Atlas Air Wordwide (AAWW) is a major provider of global air cargo services.  With a fleet of 22 Boeing 757 planes, its main activities are the airport-to-airport transportation of heavy freight cargo.  It has more than 1,400 employees and is based in Purchase, NY. 

Health Net, Inc. (HNT) is one of the largest publicly traded managed health care companies.  Its HMO, POS, and government contracts subsidiaries provide health benefits to about 6.1 million individuals in 27 states and the District of Columbia.  Health Net's headquarters is in Woodland Hills, CA.

Plantronics (PLT) manufactures corded and cordless headsets and systems for offices, contact centers, the mobile phone industry, and the next generation computer audio market.  Its Clarity subsidiary develops specialty telephone products for the hearing impaired.  It has more than 3,200 employees and is based in Santa Cruz, CA.

Strayer Education (STRA), through its subsidiary, Strayer University, offers graduate and undergraduate, business, information technology, education and public administration degree programs.  It operates about 80 campuses, with more than 55,000 students.  The company's headquarters are in Arlington, VA.

Tyson Foods (TSN) is the world's largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork products.  Its products can be commonly found in grocery chains, wholesale clubs, fast-food franchises, military commissaries, and schools.  It employs more than 115,000 individuals and is based in Springdale, Arkansas.