Tesoro Corporation (NYSE: TSO) stock is falling this morning after billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda said today that the company's decision to adopt a "poison pill" shareholder rights plan could jeopardize Tracinda's decision to acquire a 16% stake in the company. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on TSO.

The stock hit its 52-week high of $65.98 in October and set its 52-week low of $31.46 in January. This morning, TSO opened at $54.00. So far today the stock has hit a low of $53.14 and a high of $55.49. As of 12:15, TSO is trading at $53.71, down $2.18 (-3.9%). The chart for TSO looks bullish and possible trend reversal while S&P gives TSO a negative 2 STARS (out of 5) sell rating.

For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a January bear-call credit spread above the $65 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of call 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 9 weeks as long as TSO is below $65 at January expiration. Tesoro would have to rise by more than 21% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

TSO has never been above $65 by more than a few cents and should find resistance around $65 where the stock topped out in October and back over the summer.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer. DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in TSO.