Century Aluminum Showing Bullish Technicals With Support At $14.96

Century Aluminum （NASDAQ:CENX） closed Friday's positive trading session at $15.83. In the past year, the stock has hit a 52-week low of $8.25 and 52-week high of $17.14. Century Aluminum stock has been showing support around $14.96 and resistance in the $16.32 range.

Technical indicators for the stock are Bullish. For a hedged play on this stock, look at the Jan '12 $15.00 covered call for a net debit in the $12.73 area.

That is also the break-even stock price for this trade. This covered call has a duration of 341 days, provides 19.58% downside protection and an assigned return rate of 17.83% for an annualized return rate of 19.09% （for comparison purposes only）.

A lower-cost hedged play for this stock would use a longer term call option in place of the covered call stock purchase. To use this strategy look at going long the CENX Jan '12 $12.50 call and selling the Jan '12 $15.00 call for a total debit of $1.65. The trade has a lifespan of 341 days and would provide 10.61% downside protection and an assigned return rate of 51.52% for an annualized return rate of 55% （for comparison purposes only）. Century Aluminum does not pay dividends at this time.