Las Vegas Sands (LVS) falls on economic troubles

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) stock is falling with the rest of the market this morning as investors, following the JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) buyout of Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) on the cheap, are fearing that other banks have sizable exposure to troubled credit markets, which poses a high amount of risk to an already lagging economy. A struggling US economy would cut into LVS revenues in their domestic properties. 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 LVS.

After hitting a one-year high of $148.76 in October, the stock hit a one-year low of $70.70 in January. This morning, LVS opened at $72.00. So far today the stock has hit a low of $70.00 and a high of $73.50. As of 1:55, LVS is trading at $71.12, down $3.70 (-4.9%). The chart for LVS looks bearish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a negative 2 STARS (out of 5) sell rating.

For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a June bear-call credit spread above the $100 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 6.4% return in three months as long as LVS is below $100 at June expiration. LVS would have to rise by more than 40% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

LVS hasn't been above $100 since the New Year and has shown resistance around $80 recently. This trade could be risky if the US economy turns itself around, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by resistance LVS might find at its 200 day moving average, which is currently around $100.

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 LVS.