Consistently, one of the more popular stocks people enter into their stock options watchlist at Stock Options Channel is General Motors Co (GM). So this week we highlight one interesting put contract, and one interesting call contract, from the June 2025 expiration for GM. The put contract our YieldBoost algorithm identified as particularly interesting, is at the $28 strike, which has a bid at the time of this writing of $1.67. Collecting that bid as the premium represents a 6% return against the $28 commitment, or a 4.1% annualized rate of return (at Stock Options Channel we call this the YieldBoost).

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Top YieldBoost GM Puts »

Selling a put does not give an investor access to GM's upside potential the way owning shares would, because the put seller only ends up owning shares in the scenario where the contract is exercised. So unless General Motors Co sees its shares fall 23.5% and the contract is exercised (resulting in a cost basis of $26.33 per share before broker commissions, subtracting the $1.67 from $28), the only upside to the put seller is from collecting that premium for the 4.1% annualized rate of return.

Worth considering, is that the annualized 4.1% figure actually exceeds the 1% annualized dividend paid by General Motors Co by 3.1%, based on the current share price of $36.59. And yet, if an investor was to buy the stock at the going market price in order to collect the dividend, there is greater downside because the stock would have to fall 23.48% to reach the $28 strike price.

Always important when discussing dividends is the fact that, in general, dividend amounts are not always predictable and tend to follow the ups and downs of profitability at each company. In the case of General Motors Co, looking at the dividend history chart for GM below can help in judging whether the most recent dividend is likely to continue, and in turn whether it is a reasonable expectation to expect a 1% annualized dividend yield.

Turning to the other side of the option chain, we highlight one call contract of particular interest for the June 2025 expiration, for shareholders of General Motors Co (GM) looking to boost their income beyond the stock's 1% annualized dividend yield. Selling the covered call at the $45 strike and collecting the premium based on the $3.20 bid, annualizes to an additional 6% rate of return against the current stock price (this is what we at Stock Options Channel refer to as the YieldBoost), for a total of 7% annualized rate in the scenario where the stock is not called away. Any upside above $45 would be lost if the stock rises there and is called away, but GM shares would have to advance 23% from current levels for that to happen, meaning that in the scenario where the stock is called, the shareholder has earned a 31.7% return from this trading level, in addition to any dividends collected before the stock was called.

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Top YieldBoost GM Calls »

The chart below shows the trailing twelve month trading history for General Motors Co, highlighting in green where the $28 strike is located relative to that history, and highlighting the $45 strike in red:

The chart above, and the stock's historical volatility, can be a helpful guide in combination with fundamental analysis to judge whether selling the June 2025 put or call options highlighted in this article deliver a rate of return that represents good reward for the risks. We calculate the trailing twelve month volatility for General Motors Co (considering the last 250 trading day GM historical stock prices using closing values, as well as today's price of $36.59) to be 33%.