Commit To Purchase U.S. Bancorp At $18, Earn 2.2%

Investors eyeing a purchase of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) shares, but cautious about paying the going market price of $35.80/share, might benefit from considering selling puts among the alternative strategies at their disposal. One interesting put contract in particular, is the January 2015 put at the $18 strike, which has a bid at the time of this writing of 40 cents. Collecting that bid as the premium represents a 2.2% return against the $18 commitment, or a 1.4% annualized rate of return (at St...