IBM mortgage subsidiary to expand presence

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) is higher this morning after subsidiary IBM Lender Business Process Services announced that the company has been approved to provide its mortgage technology services for government-insured FHA loans, a type of loan that is expected to increase in popularity as worries increase around the mortgage industry. If you think this means that the company won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on IBM.

IBM has been climbing over the past 12 months, hitting a 52-week high of $118.89 last week. IBM opened this morning at $116.15. So far today the stock has hit a low of $115.60 and a high of $117.50. As of 10:50, IBM is trading at $115.67, up $0.12 (0.1%). The chart for IBM looks bullish and steady, while S&P gives the stock its highest 5 STARS (out of 5) strong buy rating.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider an October bull-put credit spread below the $100 range. A bull-put credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of put options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make a 4.2% return in just 6 weeks as long as IBM is above $100 at October expiration. IBM would have to fall by more than 13% before we would start to lose money.