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ORCL logoOracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) shares are falling today after the company announced it has agreed to buy Skywire Software, a software business that helps insurers manage policy sales and processing. Terms of the deal were undisclosed. 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 ORCL.

After hitting a one-year low of $18.18 in February, the stock hit a one-year high of $23.57 earlier this month. This morning, ORCL opened at $22.31. So far today the stock has hit a low of $21.83 and a high of $22.41. As of 12:45, ORCL is trading at $21.90, down 0.20 (-0.9%). The chart for ORCL looks bullish and steady, while S&P gives the stock its highest 5 Stars (out of 5) Strong Buy rating.

For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a September bear-call credit spread above the $25 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 7.5% return in three months as long as ORCL is below $25 at September expiration. Oracle would have to rise by more than 13% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

ORCL hasn't been above $23 at all in the past year and has shown resistance around $23.50 recently. This trade could be risky if the company's earnings (due out on 6/25) are a positive surprise, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by resistance ORCL might find around $23 where the stock topped out earlier this month.

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 ORCL.

Oracle (ORCL) acquires Skywire Software originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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