Get Paid to Wait for Great Companies at Better Prices

My investment strategy is built around a simple idea:

keep capital productive while waiting patiently to buy excellent businesses at attractive valuations.

Instead of leaving cash idle, I keep most available capital in SGOV, the iShares 0–3 Month Treasury Bond ETF, where it can earn short-term Treasury income while I wait for opportunities.

I then sell cash-secured put options on companies I would genuinely be comfortable owning for several years.

My typical starting point is approximately 45 days to expiration (DTE) with a strike price around 10% out of the money (OTM).

The key is that I am not selling puts merely because the premium looks attractive.

I want the underlying company to satisfy three conditions:

Strong growth + reasonable valuation + low probability of permanent capital loss.

My current watchlist includes

Alphabet
Amazon
Apple
Booking Holdings Inc.
Dell
Energy Transfer
Fortinet
Hims & Hers
Meta
Microsoft
NVIDIA
Salesforce
SoFi
Super Micro Computer
Vistra

How I would classify your 15

Company Business survival in severe recession Potential stock drawdown Permanent-loss risk
Microsoft 🟢 Extremely strong 30–50% 🟢 Very low
Alphabet 🟢 Extremely strong 35–55% 🟢 Very low
Amazon 🟢 Extremely strong 40–60% 🟢 Very low
Apple 🟢 Extremely strong 30–50% 🟢 Very low
Meta 🟢 Extremely strong 40–60% 🟢 Very low
NVIDIA 🟢 Extremely strong financially 50–70% 🟢/🟡 Low
Booking Holdings 🟢 Strong 50–70% 🟢 Low
Fortinet 🟢 Strong 40–60% 🟢 Low
Salesforce 🟢 Strong 40–60% 🟢 Low
Vistra 🟢 Strong 40–60% 🟢/🟡 Low–moderate
Energy Transfer 🟢 Strong 40–60% 🟡 Moderate
Dell 🟢 Strong 40–60% 🟡 Moderate
SoFi 🟢/🟡 Likely 50–70%+ 🟡 Moderate
Hims & Hers 🟡 Likely 50–70%+ 🟡 Moderate
Super Micro 🟡 Likely 60–80% 🟡 Higher
Portfolio overall 🟢 Strong Potentially 40–60% Relatively low if bought cheaply

Those drawdown numbers aren’t predictions. They’re the kinds of declines I would consider plausible in a genuinely severe bear market.

And this distinction—price risk versus business risk—is central to whether your strategy works.

Using each company’s latest reported quarter, I calculated:

Score = year-over-year revenue growth + GAAP net profit margin

Rank Company Revenue growth Net profit margin Combined score
1 NVIDIA 106.0% 62.0% 168.0%
2 Alphabet 24.0% 93.7% 117.7%*
3 Super Micro Computer 91.4% 10.6% 102.0%
4 Dell 58.0% ~9.0% ~67.0%
5 Microsoft 18.0% 39.8% 57.8%
6 Fortinet 26.0% 28.2% 54.2%
7 Meta 28.0% 26.0% 54.0%
8 Salesforce 10.8% 42.7% 53.5%*
9 SoFi 40.5% 13.0% 53.5%
10 Apple 16.4% 27.2% 43.6%
11 Amazon 20.0% 17.4% 37.4%
12 Energy Transfer 33.3% ~7.2% ~40.5%
13 Booking Holdings 8.0% 26.5% 34.5%
14 Hims & Hers 38.0% −11.5% 26.5%
15 Vistra −5.5% 7.6% 2.1%

The results are based primarily on the companies’ latest quarterly releases: NVIDIA, Microsoft, Meta, Fortinet, Hims & Hers, SoFi, Salesforce, Super Micro, and Vistra.

If the stock stays above my strike price, I keep the option premium and repeat the process.

If it falls below the strike, I may be assigned—but that is not necessarily a bad outcome.

The strike price is deliberately chosen as a price at which I would be happy to become a long-term shareholder.

For exceptionally attractive opportunities, I am comfortable allocating as much as 25% of my portfolio to one company, although that level of concentration requires much greater confidence in valuation, balance-sheet strength, competitive advantage, and management.

The philosophy is straightforward:

Earn Treasury income while waiting. Collect option premium for agreeing to buy. And if the market finally gives me a great company at a great price—own it patiently.

The goal isn’t to trade constantly.

The goal is to be paid while waiting for the market to offer businesses I already want at prices I am willing to pay.

Investment