BSX Stock: Is It Time To Buy Or Sell Puts?

 

Trading near $45 a share, Boston Scientific (BSX) sits roughly 58% below its 52-week peak. Instead of buying the dip outright, selling cash-secured put options allows investors to generate immediate income while locking in an even deeper entry point. However, this trade only works if you are comfortable holding the stock through a turnaround, particularly as both of the company’s core growth drivers—WATCHMAN and electrophysiology—face sudden operational headwinds.

The Trade: An 8.3% Yield With A 36% Breakeven Cushion

• Sell a put option on BSX expiring 9/17/2027, with a strike price of $30.
• Collect roughly $135 in premium per contract (each contract covers 100 shares).
• That works out to about 4.4% annualized on the $3,000 of cash you set aside to secure the trade.
• Park that collateral in Treasury bills or a Treasury money-market fund yielding roughly 3.9%, boosting your total cash-secured return to about 8.3%.
• And if BSX falls below $30, you buy it at $30, an effective entry near $28.65 a share after the premium, about a 36% discount to today’s $44.98.

How the Two Expiration Outcomes Play Out

If BSX finishes at or above $30 on 9/17/2027, the put expires worthless and you simply keep the full $135 premium. That is about 4.4% annualized on the $3,000 you set aside over 374 days, while that same collateral keeps earning the ~3.9% T-bill yield on top, for the ~8.3% total above. You never buy the stock and keep the income, free to do it again.

If BSX closes below $30, you are assigned and buy 100 shares at $30, where the $135 premium lowers your effective cost to about $28.65 a share—a 36% discount to today’s price—though any drop below that breakeven leaves you exposed to immediate unrealized capital losses.

So if the shares do fall that far, everything turns on what you would own.

What Are You Buying Besides WATCHMAN?

Roughly 75% of revenue comes from businesses other than WATCHMAN and electrophysiology, and management’s July guidance, given before the August disruption, has that group growing about 6% in the second half of 2026. Interventional Cardiology alone grew 15% in the June quarter, on coronary therapies, imaging and complex procedures.

The reason the stock has fallen is the reason you might end up owning it. WATCHMAN’s US market slowed sharply as new clinical evidence changed which patients get referred. In electrophysiology, Boston Scientific gave up more US share than it planned and guided that business flat globally for the second half of 2026, even with international sales up 23% in the June quarter.

There is less room to offset that share loss with new conversions. The shift to PFA that FARAPULSE led happened so fast that PFA already accounts for about 80% of US AFib market revenue, leaving little unpenetrated dollar spend left to capture even as procedure conversion continues to lag. Management expects revenue growth below its market rate in 2027 with limited adjusted EPS growth, before improving meaningfully in 2028.

A cybersecurity incident disrupted global operations in August 2026, including some of the systems that process and ship customer orders. On September 8 Boston Scientific said the disruption is likely to have a material impact on its third-quarter and full-year 2026 results, without putting a figure on it.

Can Boston Scientific Get WATCHMAN Referrals Back?

WATCHMAN is an implant for people who cannot or will not take blood thinners for stroke prevention, and it sells on two tracks. About a third of US procedures happen alongside an ablation, and those concomitant cases grew more than 60% in the June quarter. The other two thirds are stand-alone, and those fell at a low-teens rate against the June quarter of 2025.

Stand-alone volume is the number that decides this. Concomitant growth is about to lap much harder comparisons, so it cannot carry the franchise. Management’s answer is reach: more physician education, more sales investment, and direct-to-patient spending.

Boston Scientific’s own guidance assumes none of that works: it is not modelling any WATCHMAN improvement in 2027 until the trend changes. That sets a low bar, though management also expects a new competitor at some point in 2027 and some WATCHMAN share erosion with it. If those stand-alone declines start narrowing, you were paid to wait for a discount you may never get.

So Should You Sell The Put On Boston Scientific?

On balance, the setup is compelling only for investors prepared to hold the underlying shares through an operational disruption the company has not yet quantified. If you cannot absorb that equity downside, the upfront income is not worth the risk, even if the immediate yield looks attractive.

The cash-secured put yield screen shows what this trade pays across the market, so you can see where Boston Scientific sits.

Before You Commit To Buying More Of One Stock, Know How Much You Already Carry

A put sale is a promise to add to a single name, and the first thing a professional checks before that promise is existing exposure, because concentration is what turns an income trade into an oversized bet. That check is exactly what the Trefis Wealth team provides, with the same rules-based systematic discipline that runs our High Quality Portfolio. Request a free vulnerability audit of your biggest positions.