LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK - option chain) stock is falling today after the company announced a weak forecast for Q2 revenue last Thursday after the close. Today's weakness in oil futures is also not helping LDK stock. 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 $10.20. So far today the stock has hit a low of $9.66 and a high of $10.52. As of 12:15, LDK is trading at $9.87, down $1.04 (-9.5%). The chart for LDK looks bearish and S&P gives LDK a negative 2 STARS (out of 5) sell ranking.
For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a September 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 a 5.3% return in two and a half months as long as LDK is below $15 at September expiration. LDK would have to rise by more than 52% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.
LDK hasn't been above $15 since January and shown resistance around $12 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.
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