Get Paid 14% To Wait For KEYS Stock To Go On Sale

Here is a way to get paid a healthy income stream from Keysight Technologies now, which you keep no matter what, while setting a price well below today’s level, where you would be happy to become an owner.

Keysight Technologies (KEYS) has been on a monster run, more than doubling over the past year to its current price around $331.43 a share, yet it still trades about 10% below its 52-week high. After a move like that, many investors feel they have missed their chance. But one specific options trade offers a way to get paid for simply naming your price at a comfortable discount to the current action, with the full mechanics laid out below.

14% annualized yield at a 30% margin of safety, by selling put options.

• Sell a put option on KEYS expiring 12/18/2026, with a strike price of $230.
• Collect roughly $1,060 in premiums per contract (each contract covers 100 shares).
• That works out to about 8.9% annualized on the $23,000 of cash you set aside to secure the trade.
• Park that cash in a money market or savings account earning roughly 5.0%, and your total yield climbs to about 13.9%.
• And if KEYS falls below $230, you buy it at $230, an effective entry near $219.40 a share after the premium, about a 34% discount to today’s $331.43.

Two Outcomes, You Keep The Cash Either Way

If KEYS stays above $230 through 12/18/2026, the put expires worthless and you simply keep the full $1,060 premium. That is about 4.6% on the $23,000 you set aside over 192 days, cash that might otherwise earn you 5.0% or so. You never buy the stock and keep the income, free to do it again.

If KEYS closes below $230, you are assigned to buy 100 shares at $230. The $1,060 premium you already pocketed lowers your effective cost to about $219.40 a share, roughly a 34% discount to today’s price, though if the stock has fallen further by then you would be holding a paper loss.

So what happens if KEYS really does close below $230, and you are the one buying? Then everything rests on a single question.

The Real Question: Do You Want To Own KEYS?

This trade pays you an upfront income that is yours to keep, period. If the stock stays above your chosen price, you simply keep the cash and the trade expires. The only way you end up buying shares is if the stock falls below your price, and even then, you get to buy them at that predetermined lower level. So the entire decision hinges on one question: what kind of business would you be getting into? On one hand, you have a company posting what its CEO called the “best quarter in company history.” Orders in the second quarter grew 56% year-over-year, revenue jumped 31%, and earnings per share was up 69%.

The engine for this growth is the AI build-out. Management noted that in the first half of 2026, its “AI-related business has already surpassed the levels achieved in all of 2025.” The company sees this as a “multi-year runway” that is still in the “very early innings.” But this is not a one-trick pony. The CEO was quick to point out that while “AI was obviously the strong theme,” both “aerospace defense and semiconductor were key contributors to that growth,” suggesting a broader base of demand from defense modernization and the global semiconductor race.

But here is the tension that could give you that lower entry point. Despite the historic order book, the company’s guidance for the third quarter prompted an analyst to note that revenue would be “down slightly from Q2.” That disconnect between booming orders and a flat sequential outlook raises questions about execution. Management acknowledges it is “actively managing the supply chain more so than we were a few months ago” and has raised its capital expenditure forecast to $200 million to support the unprecedented ramp.

This is the risk: a potential bottleneck or a simple cooling-off period after a massive surge could weigh on the stock. (This structural friction isn’t isolated to Keysight; it closely mirrors the supply-side headwinds currently impacting peers across the AI ecosystem, as detailed in The Warning Sign Inside Arista Networks Stock’s Great News)

This is the dynamic you are being paid to step into. You collect your income now, and if the skeptics are right and the stock hits a patch of turbulence, you become an owner at a significant discount. The one thing to watch, then, is revenue conversion. The company has raised its full-year revenue growth expectation to the “high-20s percent” range. Your job is to decide if that outlook, and the business behind it, is something you would be comfortable owning if the market gives you that chance.

Wondering whether another stock offers a better yield, or what this same trade would pay on a name you already like? You can screen the latest cash-secured put yields across the market for yourself.

Complementing An Active Trade Like This

A cash-secured put is an efficient way to engineer income and a lower entry on a stock you have done the work on. It is also a single-name bet that can leave you holding a falling stock, so it is one tool, not a whole plan. For investors who want to pair active trades with a hands-off, diversified engine, the Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio holds 30 quality names, sized and re-balanced with discipline, and has a track record of outpacing the S&P 500, S&P Mid-cap, and Russell 2000.