Mobile Telesystems (NASDAQ: MBT - option chain) shares are soaring higher today after the company announced its board approved buying back 11.1 billion rubles ($452 million) worth of shares. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on MBT.

MBT opened this morning at $68.18. So far today the stock has hit a low of $67.55 and a high of $70.54. As of 12:35, MBT is trading at $69.22, up $3.08 (4.7%). The chart for MBT looks neutral and S&P gives MBT a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a September bull-put credit spread below the $60 range. A bull-put credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of put 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 just three weeks as long as MBT is above $60 at September expiration. MBT would have to fall by more than 13% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

MBT hasn't been below $60 at all in the past year and has shown support around $64 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 MBT.

Mobile TeleSystems. (NYSE: MBT) shares are trading higher today after the company announced that it added 0.74 million new subscribers during April, reaching a total of 85.68 million users. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on MBT.

After hitting a one-year low of $52.55 almost a year ago, the stock rose steadily to hit its one-year high of $105.78 in January. MBT opened this morning at $81.34. So far today the stock has hit a low of $81.34 and a high of $86.35. As of 12:15, MBT is trading at $85.89, up 5.64 (7.0%). The chart for MBT looks neutral and improving while S&P gives MBT a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold rating.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a June bull-put credit spread below the $70 range. A bull-put credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of put 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 just five weeks as long as MBT is above $70 at June expiration. MBT would have to fall by more than 18% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

MBT hasn't been below $70 by more than a few cents since September and has shown support around $75 recently. This trade could be risky if the company's earnings due out tomorrow disappoint, but even if that happens, that position could be protected by support the stock might find just above $70, where it bottomed out in April.

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 MTB.

For 25 years, Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, has surveyed the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is one of 100+ ideas in the Best Stocks for 2008 report.

"My favorite conservative pick for 2008 is Mobile TeleSystems (NYSE: MBT), the largest cellular operator in Eastern Europe, with 50 million subscribers," says Yiannis Mostrous in The Silk Road Investor.

"The company has licenses in 87 Russian regions, Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, covering a population of more than 233 million people. Russia accounts for almost 80% of consolidated revenue, while Ukraine is the second largest contributor.

"This is a company that offers good exposure to Russia's domestic demand growth. Russia is currently in a sweet spot: It's a net oil exporter, has good GDP growth, isn't dependent on foreign capital flows, is relatively stable politically, boasts reasonable market valuations and, above all, enjoys solid exposure to the biggest growth story of our time, Asia.

"Mobile Telesystems will continue to experience strong growth given the regional economic strength. Its valuations are still reasonable and it actually trades at a discount to a lot of its peers in the emerging market universe. This should make it a stock to own going into what is shaping up to be an uncertain New Year.

"The company's investments in its various markets have started producing positive results and it also continues to consolidate operations while taking advantage of market growth. Buy Mobile TeleSystems up to $110."

MOST NOTEWORTHY: The cable and satellite sector, Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) and Motorola (MOT) were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Credit Suisse upgraded the cable and satellite sector to Market Weight based on cable's solid long-term strategic position, attractive valuations and expectations that new industry that new industry consolidation will continue. Additionally, the firm upgraded Mediacom Communications Corp (NASDAQ: MCCC) to Outperform from Market Perform and Charter Communications (NASDAQ: CHTR) to Outperform from Underperform.
• Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan, as the firm believes the company has reached an inflection point following the company's plans to cut capital expenditure by around $2.5B and return $15B to shareholders through a buyback program. Wachovia upgraded shares of Wal-Mart to Outperform from Market Perform citing management's plans to slow U.S. store growth, reduce cap-ex and increase share buybacks. Morgan Stanley upgraded Wal-Mart to Overweight from Equal Weight and to Overweight from Neutral at HSBC.
  
• Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) was upgraded to Sector Outperformer from Sector Performer at CIBC World Markets to reflect optimism on the company's product portfolio and margin progress. They believe the company's focus on margins and not share should lead to a higher long-term margin model.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Bear Stearns upgraded Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) to Outperform from Peer Perform, citing attractive risk/reward, shares of Universal Health Services Inc. (NYSE: UHS) to Peer Perform from Underperform based on expected near-term upside to estimates and Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ONXX) to Outperform from Peer Perform.
• Merrill Lynch upgraded shares of Moody's Corp. (NYSE: MCO) to Neutral from Sell and shares of Mobile TeleSystems (NYSE: MBT) to Buy from Neutral.
• Thomas Weisel upgraded shares of NaviSite Inc. (NASDAQ: NAVI) to Overweight from Neutral citing valuation.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).