Altria (NYSE: MO - option chain) stock is trading lower Wednesday after the company reported an adjusted third-quarter profit this morning 48 cents per share, topping analysts' forecasts by a penny. However, shares of the stock are declining in today's trading, as the company's third-quarter revenue fell to $4.32 billion, missing analysts' projections of $4.66 billion. After the stock moved up strongly into earnings, traders needed the results to be really strong to sustain the upward momentum. 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 MO.This morning, MO opened at $18.37. So far today the stock has hit a high of $18.43 and a low of $18.11. As of 11:50, MO is trading at $18.26, down 40 cents (-2.1%). The chart for MO looks bullish and S&P gives MO a positive 5 STARS (out of 5) strong buy ranking.
For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a June bear-call credit spread above the $20 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 13.6% return in eight months as long as MO is below $20 at June expiration. MO would have to rise by more than 9% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.
MO hasn't been above $20 at all since a full year ago and has shown resistance around $18.70 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 controls bullish hedged positions in MO.
Serious Money: Cheapest Stocks List Shrinks from 26 to 21
Chasing Value: Hasbro Earnings Makes My Point
MEMC CEO Forgoes Bonus; Money Will Go to Retrain Workers
