Alpha Natural draws long-term bet
A long-term trade is looking for shares of Alpha Natural Resources to double.
About 5,000 January 2015 12 calls were purchased in less than 2 minutes yesterday, led by a single print of 4,704 that went for $0.53, according to optionMONSTER's Heat Seeker real-time tracking system. The volume was well above the strike's previous open interest of 1,468 contracts, indicating that this is fresh buying.
These long calls , which lock in the price where the stock can be bought, are looking for ANR to surge above $12.53--twice its current level--in the next 15 months. The options could be sold earlier at a profit if the premiums rise with a rally before then, but the contracts will expire worthless if the stock remains below $12 through January 2015. (See our Education section)
ANR rose 1.13 percent yesterday to close at $6.24. The beaten-down coal miner has rebounded since hitting an all-time low of $4.78 in early August but has been trapped in a tight range for the last month. The stock was trading above $60 coming into 2011.
Total option volume in the name topped 10,700 contracts yesterday, compared with a daily average of 7,990 for the last month. Overall calls outpaced puts by nearly 5 to 1.
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