ValueClick Inc. (NASDAQ: VCLK) shares are trading higher this morning after analysts from Robert W. Baird and Oppenheimer upgraded the stock to "Outperform" from "Neutral" and "Outperform" from "Perform," respectively. VCLK disclosed yesterday that it will pay the Federal Trade Commission $2.9 million to settle a dispute over its lead-generation practices. Both firms raised their ratings afterwards, believing that with the investigation behind it, VCLK can focus on growing the lead-generation business to get back on track. 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 VCLK.

After hitting a one-year high of $36.70 in May, the stock hit a one-year low of $17.07 in January. VCLK opened this morning at $23.41. So far today the stock has hit a low of $22.35 and a high of $23.44. As of 10:45, VCLK is trading at $22.99, up $1.31 (6.0%). The chart for VCLK looks bullish but deteriorating slightly, 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 $20 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 13.6% return in just five weeks as long as VCLK is above $20 at March expiration. ValuClick would have to fall by more than 13% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

VCLK hasn't been below $20 by more than a few cents in the past year and has shown support around $20.75 recently. This trade could be risky if the US economy continues to worsen, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by the support the stock might find right at $20, where it has bounced a few times in the past quarter.

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 VCLK.