LDK Solar (LDK) drops despite new Japanese deal

LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK - option chain) shares are falling today despite the company's announcement of an eight-year contract with Japan's Sumitomo Corp. to supply solar cell parts. Under the deal, LDK will supply about 750 megawatts of multicrystalline silicon wafers to Sumitomo. However, most solar stocks are dropping today as crude oil futures are lower again at $106, and almost dipped below $105 earlier this morning. 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 LDK.

This morning, LDK opened at $45.57. So far today the stock has hit a low of $41.70 and a high of $45.57. As of 12:20, LDK is trading at $43.20, down $2.78 (-6.0%). The chart for LDK looks neutral and S&P gives LDK a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.

For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider an October bear-call credit spread above the $60 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 6 weeks as long as LDK is below $60 at October expiration. LDK would have to rise by more than 38% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

BIG hasn't been above $35 at all inthe past year and has shown resistance around $34.90 recently.

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 LDK.