Mastercard Inc (NYSE: MA) shares are rising this morning as the company reported a fourth-quarter profit of $304.2 million, or $2.26 a share, yesterday after market close. Even excluding a one-time profit from selling a portion of its investment in Brazil's Redecard SA, MA made 89 cents a share in the quarter, handily beating analyst estimates of 73 cents a share. 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 MA.

After hitting a one-year low of $98.61 last February, the stock hit a one-year high of $227.18 in December. MA opened this morning at $210.67. So far today the stock has hit a low of $209.66 and a high of $217.35. As of 11:10, MA is trading at $213.30, up $6.30 (3.0%). The chart for MA looks neutral and improving, while S&P gives the stock a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold rating.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a March bull-put credit spread below the $170 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 seven weeks as long as MA is above $170 at March expiration. Mastercard would have to fall by more than 20% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

MA hasn't been below $170 since October and has shown support around $185 recently. This trade could be risky if the economy has not yet bottomed, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by the support the stock might find around $175, where MA bounced earlier this month.

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 MA.