Nokia (NOK) cuts full-year industry outlook by 1.5%

Nokia (NYSE: NOK - option chain) shares are falling today after the company warned that the global mobile phone market will weaken in 2009. NOK forecast global handset sales of 1.24 billion phones in 2009, down from a previous estimate of 1.26 billion. The entire industry is taking a hit today from this announcement including competitors like Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) and Motorola (NYSE: MOT) as well as suppliers such as Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM). If you think this Nokia won't be rising too far in the coming months of economic headwinds, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on NOK.

This morning, NOK opened at $12.43. So far today the stock has hit a low of $12.22 and a high of $12.97. As of 12:40, NOK is trading at $12.57, down $1.58 (11.2%). The chart for NOK looks neutral and S&P gives NOK a 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.

For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a December bear-call credit spread above the $15 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 11.1% return in five weeks as long as NOK is below $15 at December expiration. Nokia would have to rise by more than 19% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

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, RIMM, MOT, or QCOM.