Lowe's (LOW) falls on housing report

Lowe's Companies (NYSE: LOW) shares are falling today after an 8.2 percent increase in new home construction during April was shown to be due largely to apartment construction. Building of single-family homes continued to weaken, which could be a bad sign for LOW. 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 LOW.

After hitting a one-year high of $33.19 in June, the stock hit a one-year low of $19.94 in January. This morning, LOW opened at $25.22. So far today the stock has hit a low of $24.51 and a high of $25.24. As of 11:45, LOW is trading at $24.83, down 31 cents(-1.2%). The chart for LOW looks bullish but deteriorating, while S&P gives the stock a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy rating.

For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a June bear-call credit spread above the $27.50 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 an 8.7% return in five weeks as long as LOW is below $27.50 at June expiration. Lowe's would have to rise by more than 10% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

LOW hasn't been above $27.50 since October and has shown resistance around $26 recently. This trade could be risky if the company's earnings (due out on 5/19) are a positive surprise, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by resistance LOW might find at its 200 day moving average, which is currently around $26 and falling.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investor's 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 LOW.