Nokia (NOK) finalizes Navteq acquisition

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) shares are trading higher today after the company announced it has completed its acquisition of Navteq, a provider of comprehensive digital map information. Nokia hopes the acquisition will help it expand its technology platform. If you think that the stock 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 NOK.

After hitting a one-year high of $42.22 in November, the stock hit a one-year low of $23.58 last week. NOK opened this morning at $25.16. So far today the stock has hit a low of $25.16 and a high of $25.73. As of 11:55, NOK is trading at $25.59, up 0.70 (2.8%). The chart for NOK looks bearish and improving slightly, while S&P gives the stock a bullish 4 Stars (out of 5) Buy rating.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider an August bull-put credit spread below the $23 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 an 11.1% return in just five weeks as long as NOK is above $23 at August expiration. Nokia would have to fall by more than 10% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

NOK hasn't been below $23.50 at all in the past year and has shown support around $23.50 recently. This trade could be risky if the company's earnings (due out on 7/17) disappoint, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by the fact that is has dropped sharply over much of the past year and expectations for earnings may be muted.

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 NOK.