Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) done in by weak July sales

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF - option chain) shares are tanking today after the company reported a 7 percent decline in same-store sales in July, much worse than the 1.4 percent decline expected by analysts. Apparently, suburban Moms and Dads decided that $100 jeans were not the correct place to spend their economic stimulus checks. Either that or they were finally turned off by the three-quarters naked models in the store windows. 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 ANF.

This morning, ANF opened at $52.13. So far today the stock has hit a low of $49.55 and a high of $52.72. As of 12:50, ANF is trading at $49.55, down 6.18 (-11.1%). The chart for ANF looks bearish but S&P gives ANF a positive 5 STARS (out of 5) strong buy ranking.

For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a September bear-call credit spread above the $65 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 4.2% return in six weeks as long as ANF is below $65 at September expiration. Abercrombie would have to rise by more than 20% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

ANF hasn't been above $65 since late June and has shown resistance around $56 recently. This trade could be risky if the economy stages a rebound, but even if that happens, the position above could be protected by reluctant shoppers who still have lingering worries about their wallets.

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 ANF.