February 6th, 2026 Options Expiration Results

The Covered Calls Advisor Portfolio had four Covered Calls positions with the February 6th, 2026 weekly options expiration date.  Three positions (Citigroup Inc., Dell Technologies Inc., and NVIDIA Corporation) closed in-the-money so their Calls expired and the shares were called away (i.e. sold) at their respective strike prices.  The other position in Sea Limited ADR closed out-of-the-money so its Calls expired and its shares remain in the Covered Calls Advisor Portfolio.  A summary of results for each of these positions (in alphabetical order) is as follows:

1. Citigroup Inc. (C) -- +1.8% absolute return (equivalent to +45.7% annualized return-on-investment) for the 14 days of this investment.  This Covered Calls position was assigned at the $111.00 strike price since the stock closed in-the-money at $122.69 per share.  The blog post detailing this Covered Calls position is here. 

2. Dell Technologies Inc. (DELL) -- -2.5% absolute return (equivalent to -15.7% annualized return-on-investment) for the 57 days of this investment.  This Covered Calls position was assigned at the $115.00 strike price since the stock closed in-the-money at $121.05 per share.  The most recent blog post detailing this Covered Calls position is here. 

3. NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) -- +4.0% absolute return (equivalent to +86.4% annualized return-on-investment) for the 17 days of this investment.  This Covered Call position was assigned at the $180.00 strike price since the stock closed in-the-money at $185.41 per share.  The original blog post detailing this Covered Call position is here.  NVIDIA's +7.9% stock price move yesterday (Friday) was fortuitous since it move the stock price from out-of-the-money to in-the-money -- so the maximum potential return-on-investment was achieved for this position. 

4. Sea Limited ADR (SE) -- This Covered Calls position closed yesterday at $108.54 which was below its $127.00 strike price, so the two Call options expired and 200 SE shares now remain in the Covered Calls Advisor Portfolio.  The most recent blog post detailing this position is here.  Early in this upcoming week I will decide to either continue this Covered Calls position by selling two Call options against the 200 Sea Ltd. shares currently held or close out the position by selling the 200 shares.   

The +1.9% move in the S&P 500 yesterday raised the index to only 1.0% below its all-time high price, and I'm happy to report that thanks primarily to Covered Calls, the total value of my Schwab investment accounts (brokerage account plus IRAs) is now at an all-time high.  Remember, because of the tax-free nature of capital gains maintained in IRA accounts, Covered Calls can be an especially attractive investing strategy when done in IRAs (see #11 in my blog post article here).  

I'm now 75 years old, and Covered Calls investing has been very good to me (and therefore also to my family) over the past several decades. So, I am investing more conservatively now (i.e. selecting in-the-money strike prices) than I did when I was younger and focused more on trying to maximize my return-on-investments via at-the-money and out-of-the-money strikes.  That is primarily because I used to have a higher risk tolerance since I had so many more years to recover from bear market losses.  Now I have fewer years remaining to recover large losses, thus my more conservative investing approach now.          

I welcome your feedback at my email address shown below on any questions or topics related to the Covered Calls investing strategy.

Cheers!

Jeff Partlow
The Covered Calls Advisor
partlow@cox.net

Early Assignment of Covered Calls Position in Wells Fargo & Company

I was notified via email early this morning by my broker (Schwab) that the two Wells Fargo & Company (ticker WFC) February 13th, 2026 Call options were exercised early yesterday.  Wells Fargo's stock price increased from $87.14 when this position was established to $91.56 at yesterday's market close.  The original $.68 time value in the Calls when the position was established had declined on yesterday's market close to about $.10 per share.  So, with 8 days remaining until the February 13th, 2026 options expiration date, the owner of these Calls exercised their option to buy the 200 shares at the $84.00 strike price in order to receive today's (December 6th) $.45 per share ex-dividend.  

Although I will not receive the ex-dividend, I am satisfied with the +32.8% annualized-return-on-investment (aroi) result achieved since it slightly exceeds the 30.8% maximum aroi that might have been achieved if this position instead had remained in-the-money and would therefore be assigned on the February 13th options expiration date.   

The post when this Wells Fargo & Company Covered Calls position was originally established is here.  

As detailed below, the return-on-investment result for this Wells Fargo & Company Covered Calls position was +0.8% absolute return in 9 days (equivalent to a +32.8% annualized return-on-investment).

Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) -- New Covered Calls Position
The buy/write transaction was:
1/28/2026 Bought 200 Wells Fargo shares @ $87.14
1/28/2026 Sold 2 Wells Fargo 2/13/2026 $84.00 Call options @ $3.82
2/6/2026 Early Assignment of these two WFC Call options, so the Calls expired and 200 WFC shares were sold at the $84.00 strike price.

The overall performance results (including commission) for this Wells Fargo Covered Calls position are as follows:
Covered Calls Net Investment: $16,665.34
= ($87.14 - $3.82) * 200 shares + $1.34 commission

Net Profit Components:
(a) Options Income: +$762.66
= ($3.82 * 200 shares) - $1.34 commission
(b) Dividend Income (Call options exercised early on February 5th, the day prior to the February 6th ex-div date): +$0.00

(c) Capital Appreciation: -$628.00 = ($84.00 strike price - $87.14 stock purchase price) * 200 shares

Total Net Profit [Call options exercised on 2/5/2026 (business day prior to the 2/6/2026 ex-dividend date)]: +$134.66

= (+$762.66 options income + $0.00 dividend income - $628.00 capital appreciation)

Absolute Return-on-Investment: +0.8%

= +$134.66/$16,665.34

Annualized Return-on-Investment: +32.8%

= (+$134.66/$16,665.34) * (365/9 days)

Established Covered Call Position in Capital One Financial Corporation

Late in this morning's trading session, a Covered Call position was established in Capital One Financial Corporation (ticker symbol COF) when the Covered Calls Advisor's buy/write limit order was executed -- 100 shares were purchased at $219.31 and one February 27th, 2026 Call option was sold at $13.25 per share at the $210.00 strike price.  Therefore, a net debit price of $206.06 which is a time value of $3.94 per share [$13.25 Call options price - ($219.31 stock price - $210.00 strike price)].  This is a moderately in-the-money position since its probability of closing in-the-money on the 2/27/2026 options expiration date was 67.8% when this position was established.  The current average target price of the 22 analysts covering Capital One Financial is $278.53 (+27.0% above today's stock purchase price).  

Two potential return-on-investment results for this position are highlighted below and includes the possibility of early assignment since a quarterly ex-dividend of $.80 per share (1.5% annualized dividend yield) goes ex-dividend on February 19th (which is prior to the February 27th options expiration date).  The stock would have to move up in price by February 18th which is the last trading day prior to the February 19th ex-div date and by an amount that would cause the time value remaining in the option to decline from its $3.94 value today to about $.20 or less.  If this occurs, the owner of the Call option might exercise their right to purchase the stock at the $210.00 strike price, in which case the option would immediately expire worthless but the owner of the Call would then own the stock and would capture the dividend.  This early assignment would be a desirable outcome since its +49.8% annualized return-on-investment (aroi) is greater than the +38.1% aroi that would be achieved if the position were to be instead assigned on its February 27th options expiration date.  But either result would be attractive since they both exceed my preferred minimum annualized return-on-investment criteria (see criteria #8 and #9 at the bottom of this post) when using my Dividend Capture Strategy.  Also, as I prefer, there is no intervening quarterly earnings report since Capital One's next quarterly earnings report on April 21st, 2026 is after this position's Feb. 27th, 2026 options expiration date.

  

As detailed below, two potential return-on-investment results are: 

•  +1.9% absolute return (equivalent to +49.8% annualized return-on-investment for the next 14 days) if the stock is assigned early (business day prior to the February 19th, 2026 ex-dividend date); OR 

• +2.3% absolute return (equivalent to +38.1% annualized return-on-investment over the next 22 days) if the stock is assigned on the February 27th, 2026 options expiration date.

Capital One Financial Corporation (COF) -- New Covered Call Position
The buy/write transaction was:
2/5/2026 Bought 100 Capital One Financial shares @ $219.31
2/5/2026 Sold 1 Capital One 2/27/2026 $210.00 Call option @ $13.25 per share.  The Implied Volatility of the Calls was 36.5 when this transaction occurred which, as I prefer, is well above the current S&P 500 Volatility Index (i.e. VIX) of 20.6.
2/19/2026 Upcoming quarterly ex-dividend of $.80 per share

Two possible overall performance results (including commissions) for this Capital One Covered Call position are as follows:
Covered Call Net Investment: $20,606.67
= ($219.31 - $13.25) * 100 shares + $.67 commission

Net Profit Components:
(a) Options Income: +$1,324.33
= ($13.25 * 100 shares) - $.67 commission
(b) Dividend Income (If option exercised early on February 18th, the last business day prior to the February 19th ex-div date): +$0.00; or
(b) Dividend Income (If COF stock assigned at the February 27th, 2026 options expiration date): +$80.00
= ($.80 dividend per share x 100 shares)
(c) Capital Appreciation (If Capital One Call option assigned early): -$931.00
+($210.00 strike price - $219.31 stock purchase price) * 100 shares; or
(c) Capital Appreciation (If shares assigned at $210.00 strike price at options expiration): -$931.00 = +($210.00 - $219.31) * 100 shares

1. Total Net Profit [If option exercised early]: +$393.33

= (+$1,324.33 option income +$0.00 dividend income - $931.00 capital appreciation); or

2. Total Net Profit (If COF shares assigned at $210.00 at the Feb. 27th options expiration date): +$473.33

= (+$1,324.33 option income +$80.00 dividend income - $931.00 capital appreciation)

1. Absolute Return-on-Investment [If option exercised early on Feb. 18th (business day prior to the 2/19/2026 ex-dividend date)]: +1.9%

= +$393.33/$20,606.67

Annualized Return-on-Investment (If option exercised early): +49.8%

= (+$393.33/$20,606.67) * (365/14 days); or

2. Absolute Return-on-Investment (If Capital One shares assigned at $210.00 at the February 27th, 2026 options expiration date): +2.3%

= +$473.33/$20,606.67

Annualized Return-on-Investment (If COF shares assigned at $210.00 at the 2/27/2026 options expiration): +38.1%

= (+$473.33/$20,606.67) * (365/22 days)

At least eight of the nine metrics used in the Covered Calls Advisor's Dividend Capture Strategy spreadsheet (see below) must be 'YES' prior to establishing a new Covered Calls position using the Covered Calls Advisor's Dividend Capture strategy.  Eight of the nine criteria are achieved for this Capital One Financial Covered Call position.

Established Covered Call in NVIDIA Corporation

An in-the-money Covered Call position was established early in this morning's trading session in NVIDIA Corporation (ticker NVDA).  My net buy/write limit order at $167.79 was executed by simultaneously purchasing one hundred shares at $178.19 and selling one February 20th, 2026 Call option at the $172.50 strike price at $10.40 per share, which provides a $4.71 per share = [$10.40 Call option premium received - ($178.19 stock purchase price - $172.50 option strike price)] time value profit potential.  This new position continues my recent practice of having a NVIDIA Covered Call position expiring each week.  An in-the-money Covered Call position was established for this new position with the probability that NVIDIA's stock will close in-the-money on the 2/20/2026 options expiration date was 61.8% when this transaction was executed.  As I prefer, the next earnings report on February 25th, 2026 is after the February 20th, 2026 options expiration date. 

As detailed below, a potential return-on-investment result is +2.8% absolute return-on-investment (equivalent to +63.9% annualized return-on-investment for the next 16 days) if NVIDIA's share price is in-the-money (i.e. above the $172.50 strike price) and therefore assigned on its February 20th, 2026 options expiration date.  

NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) -- New Covered Call Position

Today's buy/write net limit order transaction was as follows:
2/4/2026 Bought 100 NVIDIA Corporation shares at $178.19.

2/4/2026 Sold 1 NVIDIA 2/20/2026 $172.50 Call option @ $10.40 per share.  

A possible overall performance result (including commissions) for this NVIDIA Corporation Covered Call position is as follows:
Covered Call Net Investment: $16,779.67
= ($178.19 - $10.40) * 100 shares + $.67 commission

Net Profit:
(a) Option Income: +$1,039.33
= ($10.40 * 100 shares) - $.67 commission
(b) Dividend Income: +$0.00
(c) Capital Appreciation (If 100 NVIDIA shares assigned at the $172.50 strike price at expiration): -$569.00
+($172.50 strike price - $178.19 stock purchase price) * 100 shares

Total Net Profit Potential (If 100 NVIDIA shares in-the-money and therefore assigned at the $172.50 strike price at the options expiration date): +$470.33
= (+$1,039.33 option income + $0.00 dividend income - $569.00 capital appreciation)

Potential Absolute Return-on-Investment: +2.8%
= +$470.33/$16,779.67
Potential Annualized Return-on-Investment: +63.9%
= (+$470.33/$16,779.67) * (365/16 days)