Motorola (MOT) jumps on possibility of break-up

Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) shares are surging this morning after the company said it is considering divesting itself of its mobile phone division, its biggest unit. The decision came as MOT was struggling to gain market share from better-performing rivals Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and Samsung. Citigroup also upgraded the stock to "Buy" from "Hold" on the news. 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 MOT.

After hitting a one-year high of $19.98 last February, the stock hit a one-year low of $9.43 last week. MOT opened this morning at $12.90. So far today the stock has hit a low of $12.54 and a high of $12.97. As of 11:00, MOT is trading at $12.67, up $1.17 (10.2%). The chart for MOT looks bearish and steady, 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 $11 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 6.4% return in just seven weeks as long as MOT is above $11 at March expiration. Motorola would have to fall by more than 13% before we would start to lose money.

MOT hasn't been below $11 except for a few days in the past year and has shown support around $11.20 recently. This trade could be risky if the poor economic news continues, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by the support the stock might find around $11.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in MOT or NOK.