Transocean Inc. (NYSE: RIG) shares are trading higher today after a Credit Suisse analyst reiterated his rating of RIG at Outperform following the regulatory approval of its $18 billion acquisition of Global Santa Fe (NYSE: GSF). If you think 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 RIG.

After hitting a one-year low of $72.47 in January, the stock hit a one-year high of $131.00 earlier this month. RIG opened this morning at $128.49. So far today the stock has hit a low of $127.60 and a high of $131.51. As of 12:05, RIG is trading at $130.97, up $4.69 (3.7%). The chart for RIG looks bullish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy rating.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a January bull-put credit spread below the $110 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 7.5% return in just 2 months as long as RIG is above $110 at January expiration. RIG would have to fall by more than 15% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

RIG hasn't been below $110 by more than a few cents since September, and has shown support around $115 recently. This trade could be risky if the price of oil drops off, but even if that happens, this stock could be protected by strong support RIG found around $110 over the past three months.

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 RIG.